Patent ID: 7304992

Claim:
A method of processing a packet in a communication network, said method comprising: receiving a packet within a network device; determining a plurality of packet field values with respect to the packet based on sets of range checking parameters within a rules table; identifying a plurality of range values as set forth in the sets of range checking parameters within a plurality of entries of the rules table; implementing at least one first action with respect to the packet when at least one of the plurality of packet field values falls within a corresponding pair of range values for one of the plurality of entries; implementing at least one second action with respect to the packet when each one of the plurality of packet field values falls within each corresponding pair of range values for one of the plurality of entries; and implementing at least one third action with respect to the packet when each one of the plurality of the packet field values does not fall within each corresponding pair of range values, wherein the method provides a flexible range checking processing to increase the speed and performance of packet filtering and processing in the communication network.