Patent ID: 6931574

Claim:
A method for describing the content of a data frame present on a communications network having a predetermined physical layer protocol, the method comprising the following steps: providing a protocol definition file, the protocol definition file including: a first definition construct that defines the format of a data frame that is structured in accordance with the requirements of the predetermined physical layer protocol, and a second definition construct that defines a plurality of message protocol types; storing the protocol definition file within a protocol database; capturing a data frame present on the communications network; ascertaining whether at least one protocol type of at least one message contained within the data frame from the plurality of message protocol types is defined by at least one of the plurality of message protocol types in the second definition construct; providing a user with a protocol editor for creating a new message protocol type in the protocol definition file if at least one protocol type of at least one message contained within the data frame from the plurality of message protocol types is not defined by at least one of the plurality of message protocol types in the second definition construct; and providing the content of the captured data frame with descriptions of the content of the captured data frame based upon the definitions of the first and the second definition constructs.