Patent ID: 7310728

Claim:
A method for high-speed header bypassing, the method comprising: receiving unencrypted data and a header associated with the unencrypted data; under control of separation state machine logic, separating the header from the associated unencrypted data; under control of first validation state machine logic, examining the header for format, number of bits and contents based on a security policy that defines what in the header is to be examined in order to determine whether the header represents a valid command; in response to said first validation state machine logic determining that the header represents a valid command, said first validation state machine logic controlling a first door logic to open; encrypting the unencrypted data with a cryptographic algorithm to produce encrypted data; signaling second validation state machine logic from the first validation state machine logic when the header is determined to represent a valid command, said signaling indicating a valid header is ready to transfer and that the first door logic is open; said second validation state machine logic opening second door logic in responsive to said signaling without waiting for the encrypted data to be matched with the header; in response to said second validation state machine logic receiving said signaling from the first validation state machine, enabling transfer of the valid header to merge logic; transferring the valid header on a connection between the first door logic when it is open and the second door logic when it is open, wherein the second door logic transfers the valid header to the merge logic thereby bypassing the cryptographic algorithm, wherein the first door logic and the second door logic operate independently of each other such that if the first door logic malfunctions, the second door logic stays closed; and merging the valid header and the encrypted data with the merge logic.