Patent ID: 8682996

Claim:
Apparatus for handling received messages, the apparatus comprising: system memory for storing one or more test or mask strings and a corresponding configuration setup referring to the strings; and a communication-interface controller operable on behalf of a processor to intercept and screen received messages on the fly portion-by-portion during reception, and to submit messages determined to have passed such screening to the processor for processing, wherein the controller is configured to: for each received message, carry out a comparison during the screening in a series of stages, each stage comprising comparing a portion of each received message, with a corresponding portion of one of the one or more test or mask strings, carry out the series of stages sequentially during the reception of the messages, successive stages operating on respective portions of a particular received message successively received into a first-in-first out (FIFO) buffer, in each said stage, compare the portion of the received message in the FIFO buffer sequentially with a corresponding portion of each stored test string and/or mask string or of each stored test string and mask string combination, as indicated by the stored configuration set up, and in each said stage and for each sequential comparison, fetch the corresponding portion from the system memory.