Method and apparatus for deep packet processing

摘要

A method and apparatus for deep packet processing including a parsing and a searching method supported by a data structure storing the state-transition rules in the state-transition rule tables of a programmable state machine for parsing. The state-transition rule table is then compressed using the BaRT compression algorithm. Each transition rule comprises a test value, a test mask and a next state field. In a second embodiment the state-transition rule table is split into more than one state-transition rule table corresponding to disjoints state spaces, thus allowing more flexibility in the use of storage space. Finally a parsing and searching method can be implemented using the same hardware. The searching and parsing methods can be implemented alternatively or in any combination at wire-speed.