Patent ID: 7917509

Claim:
A hardware-implemented method for searching for pre-defined string patterns by a network electronic device, the method comprising: receiving a network packet containing data via a network at one or more classification engines; performing a first stage search at the one or more classification engines on the data contained in the network packet, wherein the first stage search identifies multiple potential strings of interest having a first block of data matching a corresponding block of data of one or more predetermined strings; generating a first stage search report with the one or more classification engines indicating multiple potential strings of interest and a location of the multiple potential strings of interest within the data contained in the network packet; sending the first stage search report to a policy processor; performing a second stage search on the data contained in the network packet with the policy processor, wherein the second stage search compares a second block of data of the multiple potential strings of interest indicated in the first stage search report to the one or more predetermined strings to determine whether a match exists; generating a message with the policy processor to indicate that at least one of the multiple potential strings of interest is a string of interest if a match exists between the second block of data of at least one multiple potential string of interest and the one or more predetermined strings, wherein the message includes a packet destination of the network packet; and outputting the network packet with the policy processor to the network if no potential strings of interest are identified.