Patent ID: 8799188

Claim:
An algorithm engine for searching and scanning for regular expression based pattern contexts in an input character stream, comprising: control logic operative to receive pattern context search commands from a data engine; one or more physical pattern search lanes, each physical pattern search lane comprising: a memory store operative to store a plurality of local rules and a plurality of temporary rules; one or more pattern search engines, each pattern search engine coupled to its corresponding memory store and operative to execute said pattern context search commands; wherein each physical pattern search lane is time multiplexed to create a plurality of logical pattern search lanes, each logical pattern search lane operative to execute independently of other logical pattern search lanes a search command received from a command unit, whereby said command unit operating on two searches may be connected to two logical lanes at the same time; and a local results processor (LRP) associated with each pattern search lane for assisting said pattern search engines in searching complex pattern contexts; and wherein a local results processor is associated with each logical pattern search lane and is operative to receive a set of commands from a corresponding logical pattern search engine on partial matches during a search operation and analyze match results to assist in processing complex regular expression pattern contexts.