Patent ID: 7043467

Claim:
A system for classifying packets, wherein each packet has N header fields to be used for processing, the system comprising: a first set of rules associating to the packets by values of the header fields; and a classification system for selecting specific rules in the set of rules as applicable to a specific packet; characterized in that the classification system projects the first set of rules as N-dimensional entities on N axes in N-dimensional space, marking the beginning and ending value on each axis for each rule as a breakpoint, assigns one of a sequence of binary interval numbers to each interval between breakpoints such that all adjacent intervals are numbered in ascending sequential binary order and such that each of the binary interval numbers has a number of bits that is less bits than the number of bits for axis values corresponding to the breakpoints, associates a subset of the first set of rules applicable in each interval to the binary interval number of the appropriate interval between breakpoints on each axis, then considers a packet as a point in the N-dimensional space according to its header field values, locates the binary interval number assigned to the interval into which the point projects on each axis by performing a search on each axis for the interval into which the point projects on that axis, thereby determining rules applicable to the packet from the subsets of rules by selecting those rules as applicable to the packet that apply to the packet on all of the N axes.