Patent ID: 6901516

Claim:
A system for ciphering a packet in a data stream received by a communication device, said system comprising: a first communication port for receiving said data stream; a second communication port for transmitting a ciphered data stream associated with said data stream; a memory device having a memory buffer; a first access port connected to said memory buffer; and a second access port connected to said memory buffer; a data processing processor connected to said first communication port, said second communication port and said first access port via a first bus; and a ciphering processor connected to said second access port via a second bus, wherein said first access port and said second access port each provide access to said memory buffer; said data processing processor is adapted to receive said data stream from said first communication port through said first bus, to identify a start and an end of said packet, to store a file associated with said packet in said memory buffer through said first bus and to retrieve said ciphered data from said memory buffer through said first bus for transmission through said second communications port; said data processor further comprises a security module to determine a security context relating to at least one source of said data stream and a destination for said ciphered data stream, to store said security in said memory buffer for access by said ciphering processor and to retrieve a given security context from said memory buffer for use in generating said ciphered data stream; and said ciphering processor is adapted to retrieve said file from said memory buffer over said second bus to generate said ciphered data stream from said file, to generate integrity check information for said ciphered data stream using contents of said file and to provide said ciphered data stream to said memory buffer through said second bus.