Patent ID: 8375449

Claim:
A virus processing system, the virus processing system comprising: a system memory; a general purpose processor, wherein the general purpose processor is communicably coupled to the system memory, and wherein the general purpose processor is operable to store a data segment to the system memory; an instruction memory, wherein the instruction memory includes at least one virus signature for detection of a computer virus, the at least one virus signature comprising a first instruction of a first instruction type and a second instruction of a second instruction type stored in contiguous memory locations; a virus co-processor communicably coupled to the instruction memory and the system memory, wherein the virus co-processor is operable to access the data segment from the system memory, wherein the virus co-processor includes at least a first instruction pipe and a second instruction pipe, wherein the first instruction pipe is operable to execute the first instruction type, and wherein the second instruction pipe is operable to execute the second instruction type; and wherein the first instruction pipe includes a first write back circuit, wherein the second instruction pipe includes a second write back circuit, and wherein the first write back circuit and the second write back circuit are linked such that a write back of a preceding instruction occurs before a write back of a succeeding instruction.