Patent ID: 7451458

Claim:
A method comprising: a networking application requesting an externalized initialization function of an application programming interface (API) to perform an initialization to enable a first of a plurality of multi-protocol optical networking modules (MPONM) of a networking apparatus to subsequently perform filtering operations for the networking application, the API having the externalized initialization function and at least one other externalized operation function, and each of the MPONM having a plurality of resources that can be selectively employed to selectively perform filtering operations for networking communications of a plurality of networking communication protocols, the initialization request implicitly identifying a first MPONM to the API by providing a handle of a device driver for interfacing with the first MPONM; and the API, in response, returning to the networking application a handle of a data structure instance for subsequent use by the networking application to implicitly request the first MPONM to perform filtering operations on networking communications of one or more communication protocols by requesting the API and referencing the data structure instance using the handle, the data structure instance being associated with the first MPONM and having plural sets of data elements, each set being associated with a communication protocol, wherein the API to create the data structure instance if the networking application's initialization request is a first initialization request associated with the first MPONM subsequent to a power up or reset of the networking apparatus.