Patent ID: 7792117
Filing Date: 2010-09-07
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A processor-based method for simulating a processor of network packets, comprising: inputting a specification in a textual language of the processor of the network packets, the specification including a plurality of actions specifying a modification of the network packets by the processor, wherein each of at least one of the actions includes a respective guard condition, the respective guard condition for enabling and disabling the action in response to at least one of a plurality of fields of a type of the network packets; translating the specification of the processor from the textual language to a simulator of the processor in a general-purpose programming language; for each of the at least one action, determining a first and second value of the at least one field of the respective guard condition of the action, wherein the respective guard condition enables the action in response to the first value of the at least one field and the respective guard condition disables the action in response to the second value of the at least one field; generating each of the network packets of the type including, for each field that is included in the at least one field of the respective guard condition of the at least one action, selecting a value of the field in the network packet from a plurality of values of the field within the first and second values of the at least one field of the respective guard condition of the at least one action; and simulating the modification of the network packets in the simulator, including displaying a result of the modification on a user interface, wherein the generating of each of the network packets of the type comprises: generating a listing including a respective entry for each field that is included in the at least one field of the respective guard condition of the at least one action, wherein the respective entry for the field includes the plurality of values that includes each value of the field within the first and second values of the at least one field of the respective guard condition of each of the at least one action; and generating a value for each field in the network packet, wherein, in response to the listing including the respective entry for the field, the value of the field is a selected one of the plurality of values in the respective entry.