Patent ID: 8024799
Filing Date: 2011-09-20
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. An apparatus to facilitate network security for input network traffic, comprising: a first plurality of microcode controlled state machines, each of said first plurality of microcode controlled state machines including a computation kernel, wherein a plurality of rules applied to a network traffic segment are distributed across said computation kernels such that each of at least two of said computation kernels includes condition logic configured by microcode stored in an associated control store to evaluate a unique configured rule in microcode to produce modification instructions; a distribution circuit to route said network traffic segment to each of said first plurality of microcode controlled state machines; and a first circuit that generates a modification command by combining said modification instructions from said at least two of said computation kernels, a second circuit that performs a modification of said input network traffic based on said modification command to produce modified output network traffic that facilitates network security; wherein said distribution circuit provides said network traffic segment directly to said second circuit for modification, bypassing said first plurality of microcode controlled state machines, in response to said second circuit receiving said modification command from said first circuit.