Patent ID: 8918504

Claim:
A method for detecting network traffic content, the method comprising: receiving one or more signatures, each of the one or more signatures associated with content desired to be detected; compiling, by a compiler process of a device that performs the method, the one or more signatures into a byte stream executable by a processor to control operation of the processor in determining whether network traffic content matches content desired to be detected based on the compiled one or more signatures, the compiling including translating the one or more received signatures into a byte stream executable by the processor; receiving network traffic content; and processing the compiled one or more signatures and the network traffic content to determine whether the network traffic content matches the content desired to be detected as represented in the compiled one or more signatures; wherein: the processing is performed by a device that is a part of a firewall of a computer system; the one or more signatures are received via a first input port at the device, and the data is received via a second input port at the device, the device having a housing, the first and second input ports associated with the housing, and at least one of the one or more signatures is codified using one or more predicates which prescribe one or more functions to be executed by the processor to detect the network traffic content.