Patent ID: 7710892
Filing Date: 2010-05-04
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. In a computing system having access to a plurality of captured data frames present on a communication network that have been captured by a protocol analyzer, at least a subset of the captured data frames being search data frames that are to be searched, the search data frames being structured in accordance with different protocol definitions, the search data frames being structured to include one or more protocol fields structured in accordance with its corresponding protocol definitions, the computing system also having access to a database of protocol definitions that define frame formats for the search data frames by specifying a relationship between the protocol fields of the search data frames, a method for automatically generating a list of search criteria to be used by the computing system when searching the search data frames for one or more resulting data frames having a specific protocol field, the method comprising: an act of accessing a specific protocol field from one of the captured data frames; an act of accessing the protocol definitions; an act of interpreting the captured data frame using the protocol definitions to generate a list of additional protocol field and value pairs to use for searching the search data frames; and an act of using the specific protocol field and the list of additional protocol field and value pairs to automatically identify the one or more resulting data frames having the specific protocol field.