Patent ID: 7369657

Claim:
A method for configuring and managing a cryptography accelerator, the method comprising: receiving a packet and a generic function call requesting a cryptographic operation at an application program interface (API) abstraction layer, the API abstraction layer operable to communicate with a plurality of cryptography accelerators, wherein the plurality of cryptographic accelerators perform the requested cryptographic operation and wherein each of the plurality of cryptographic accelerators supports a different specific function call for the requested cryptographic operation; identifying, at the API abstraction layer, a cryptographic accelerator in the plurality of cryptography accelerators for performing the requested cryptographic operation on the received packet; mapping the generic function call for the requested cryptographic operation to the specific function call for the requested cryptographic operation supported by the identified cryptographic accelerator; processing the received packet at the API abstraction layer according to the requirements of the identified cryptographic accelerator; and sending the processed packet and the specific function call for the requested cryptographic operation to the identified cryptography accelerator.