Patent ID: 7596626

Claim:
A method for triggering by means of a digital processing device, at least one action on digital communication data when they belong to the same semantic flow for which said action is designed, wherein the method comprises: feeding the device with at least one filter having three possible states which result from one or more conditions on one or more protocol attributes specified for said semantic flow, a valid state corresponding to protocol attribute values which confirm that said condition or conditions are satisfied, an invalid state corresponding to protocol attribute values which confirm that said condition or conditions are not satisfied, an uncertain state corresponding to an absence of protocol attribute values to confirm that said condition or conditions are or are not satisfied, each protocol attribute being specified by an ordered sequence of protocol names used in the semantic flow and by a parameter name conveyed by a protocol whose name is indicated in said ordered sequence of protocol names; applying the three-state filter to said communication data as long as these data have not afforded protocol attribute values other than those from which said uncertain state of the filter results; wherein to apply the filter to said communication data, the method further comprises: dispatching one of said protocol attributes to a protocol interface allocated to the protocol indicated in the ordered sequence of protocol names, until the state of the filter is valid or invalid or until all the protocol attributes have been dispatched; searching through the communication data for the value of the specified parameter and transmitting this value to the digital processing device if it finds the former; and evaluating the state of the filter which corresponds to the value or to the absence of value transmitted by the protocol interface; and triggering said action when said valid state of the filter results from protocol attribute values afforded by the communication data; wherein said action includes one or more of encrypting, routing, signature actions, compression, decompression, aggregation, and a user-defined action applied to the digital communication data.