Patent ID: 7895657
Filing Date: 2011-02-22
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
1. A communication infrastructure that provides packet switched communication pathways for exchanging packets, the communication infrastructure comprising: a source end-point device; a destination end-point device having a destination address; a backbone network comprising a plurality of switching devices arranged to form at least one pathway from the source device to the destination device, at least one of the plurality of switching devices including a virus template different from a virus template included in another of the plurality of switching devices, wherein the plurality of switching devices operate to minimize duplicate virus detection efforts by cooperating to select a selected switching device of the plurality of switching devices to compare a packet potentially containing a virus, with a virus template included in the selected switching device; the source device delivers a packet comprising the destination address and a virus characteristic to the selected switching device in the at least one pathway to perform the comparison; the selected switching device detects the virus characteristic after receiving the packet by comparing the packet with the virus template, and triggers a virus service function; and the selected switching device interrupts the delivery of the packet toward the destination via the destination address.