Patent ID: 7843897

Claim:
A system for evaluating a message on a single network, said network including a plurality of network devices communicating messages using various different protocols, wherein a portion of each message includes a specific sequence, the system comprising: a plurality of network devices; and a protocol evaluation apparatus coupled to one of the network devices, said protocol evaluation apparatus including a first protocol identifier module associated with a specific messaging protocol, a second protocol identifier module associated with another specific messaging protocol and a claim control module, said first protocol identifier module configured to evaluate the sequence of a portion of a message on the network, wherein the first protocol identifier module transmits the message to the claim control module if the sequence of the portion of the message on the network is in accordance with the specific messaging protocol associated with the first protocol identifier module, and wherein the first protocol identifier module signals the second protocol identifier module to evaluate the message if the sequence of the portion of the message on the network is not in accordance with the specific messaging protocol of the first protocol identifier module, said second protocol identifier module configured to evaluate the sequence of a portion of the message if signaled by the first protocol identifier module, wherein the second protocol identifier module transmits the portion of the message to the claim control module if the sequence of the portion of the message on the network is in accordance with the specific messaging protocol associated with the second protocol identifier module, said claim control module configured to claim the portions of the message transmitted by either the first protocol identifier module or the second protocol identifier module and transmit the claimed portions of the message to the network device of the associated protocol coupled to the protocol evaluation apparatus.