Patent ID: 7720100

Claim:
An information packet preclassification method comprising: an input interface port receiving a packet of information; a packet parsing engine (PPE) differentiating the packet into segments; using a PPE decision tree random access memory (RAM) including a logic decision tree with multiple levels, a PPE controller comparing segments in the packet to a node at a tree level, where each node includes a plurality of node reference segments and corresponding node comparison operators, the PPE controller: in a first tree level, comparing a first segment in the packet to reference segments in an intermediate node; in response to the comparisons, branching to a node in a second tree level; and, comparing a second segment in the packet to a plurality of reference segments in the second tree level node; in response to comparing segments, the PPE accessing a classification attribute in a classification database; and, the PPE assigning the classification attribute to the packet.