Patent ID: 8051167

Claim:
A method of reducing the amount of processing done by a network node in a computer network when providing content information to a content identification device, the method comprising: receiving, by the network node, a packet belonging to an IP flow; determining whether the IP flow is a flow for which content information is to be sent to the content identification device; and when the IP flow is a flow for which content information is to be sent to the content identification device, performing the steps of: determining, using deep packet inspection, that the packet contains at least one field of interest, wherein the at least one field of interest is needed by the content identification device, saving the value of the at least one field of interest in a memory of the node, determining whether all fields of interest needed by the content identification device have been seen by the network node among a plurality of packets belonging to the IP flow, communicating a value of the at least one field of interest to the content identification device regardless of the value of the at least one field of interest, including: constructing an IP flow information packet, wherein the IP flow information packet includes information that identifies the IP flow and values for all fields of interest needed by the content identification device, and sending the IP flow information packet to the content identification device, and when all fields of interest needed by the content identification device have been seen by the network node among the plurality of packets belonging to the IP flow: designating the IP flow as a flow for which content information is no longer to be sent to the content identification device, and flushing the values of all fields of interest for the IP flow from the memory, wherein the step of communicating the value of the at least one field of interest occurs only when all fields of interest needed by the content identification device have been seen by the network node among the plurality of packets belonging to the IP flow.