Patent ID: 7554980
Filing Date: 2009-06-30
Classification: H04L,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A multi-stage classification method of matching a plurality of strings to one or more policies embodied in a plurality of stages, each stage comprising one or more entries, each entry comprising a criterion and a pointer to a subsequent stage; the method comprising the steps of: (a) generating a current pointer to a current stage using a current string; (b) searching one or more criteria in the current stage, the searching step further comprising the steps of: (c) repeating the searching step for each of the plurality of stages; (d) generating a score for each match identified in each of the plurality of stages; and (e) selecting the policy of the one or more policies associated with a highest cumulative score, the cumulative score being the sum of the score for each match at each stage of the plurality of stages.