Patent ID: 7636703
Filing Date: 2009-12-22
Classification: G16B,H04L,H04W

Abstract:
1. A method for inspecting a data stream for data segments approximately matching any of a plurality of patterns, the method comprising: filtering a plurality of data substrings within the data stream with a plurality of parallel filter mechanisms to thereby detect a plurality of potential matches between the data substrings and a plurality of pattern pieces, each pattern piece corresponding to at least one pattern, each data substring comprising a plurality of symbols; reducing the detected potential matches to a plurality of pattern sets, each pattern set comprising (1) data representative of at least one pattern corresponding to a pattern piece which was a potential match to a data substring, and (2) data representative of an allowable error associated with the at least one pattern; providing the pattern sets to a verification stage; and verifying with the verification stage whether a data segment within the data stream is an approximate match to a pattern within a provided pattern set on the basis of the allowable error data within that provided pattern set.