Patent ID: 7451143

Claim:
A system for conducting contextual searches, the system comprising: a rule processor comprising: a plurality of M input payload search registers, wherein a data stream of content data to be searched is input into the plurality of payload search registers; a search execution engine comprising: a search array coupled to the plurality of M search registers, wherein the search array comprises: a plurality of M rows of search array elements coupled to a plurality of M output match lines; and a plurality of N columns of search array elements coupled to a plurality of N pattern input lines comprising a search pattern, wherein the search array comprises an array of M by N search array elements, and wherein the content data in the plurality of M search registers is replicated and stored N times in the plurality of N columns in the search array, wherein the N content data in each column of the N columns are shifted in row positions relative to the row positions of the content data in each of the other columns of the N columns; and a sorter coupled to the search array to perform one or more contextual searches on content in the search array via parallel pattern matching in response to executing one or more search instructions specifying the one or more pattern searches and presenting one or more patterns to the content, wherein the parallel pattern matching comprises performing a simultaneous search within all M rows for all of the N search pattern elements input by the N pattern input lines, all in one clock period.