Recirculation buffer for semantic processor

Abstract

A system and method comprising a buffer configured to receive a data stream, a parser configured to parse the data stream from the buffer, and one or more processing units configured to co-process the data stream from the buffer responsive to the parsing by the parser, and then provide at least a portion of the processed data stream back to the buffer for additional parsing by the parser.

1 . A recirculation buffer system, comprising: 
 an input for receiving a partially parsed data stream from a semantic processor;    a buffer unit for buffering the partially parsed data stream; and    an output for outputting the partially parsed data stream to a data parsing unit for further parsing or back to the semantic processor for processing.    
   
   
       2 . The recirculation buffer system according to  claim 1  wherein the output includes a first interface for providing the partially parsed data stream to the data parsing unit, and a second interface for sending the buffered partially parsed data stream to one or more semantic processors responsive to the parsing by the data parsing unit.  
   
   
       3 . The recirculation buffer system according to  claim 2  wherein the first interface includes a First In-First Out (FIFO) access unit for sequential access to the partially parsed data stream by the data parsing unit and the second interface includes a random access buffer unit for random access to the partially parsed data stream by the semantic processors.  
   
   
       4 . The recirculation buffer system of  claim 1  including: 
 an input buffer for receiving a non-parsed data stream from a network interface; and    a recirculation buffer for receiving the partially parsed data stream from the semantic processor.    
   
   
       5 . The recirculation buffer system of  claim 1  wherein the partially parsed data stream is a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) data stream that was reordered with the semantic processor responsive to an earlier parsing of the partially parsed data stream by the data parsing unit.  
   
   
       6 . The recirculation buffer system of  claim 1  wherein the partially parsed data stream within the buffer unit was decrypted or authenticated with the semantic processor responsive to an earlier parsing of the partially parsed data stream by the processing unit.  
   
   
       7 . The recirculation buffer system of  claim 1  wherein the partially parsed data stream in the buffer unit is a set of Internet Protocol (IP) fragmented data streams.  
   
   
       8 . The recirculation buffer system of  claim 1  wherein the partially parsed data stream includes a symbol identifying a parsing state for the partially parsed data.  
   
   
       9 . A method comprising: 
 receiving a data stream;    parsing the data stream with a parsing unit to identify contents in the data stream, where one or more of the contents requires processing by a co-processor prior to completing the parsing;    outputting the data stream to the co-processor responsive to the parsing of the data stream by the parsing unit;    receiving back a processed data stream from the co-processor; and    parsing the processed data stream with the parsing unit.    
   
   
       10 . The method according to  claim 9  wherein the co-processor performs at least one of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) reordering, cryptography operations, and Internet Protocol (IP) fragment reassembly.  
   
   
       11 . The method according to  claim 9  wherein the processed data stream from the co-processor contains a symbol that identifies a parsing state for the data stream.  
   
   
       12 . A system comprising: 
 a buffer configured to receive a data stream;    a parser configured to parse the data stream from the buffer; and    one or more processing units configured to co-process the data stream from the buffer responsive to the parsing by the parser, and then provide at least a portion of the processed data stream back to the buffer for additional parsing by the parser.    
   
   
       13 . The system according to  claim 12  wherein a first processing unit receives the data stream from the buffer and a second processing unit sends the processed data stream back to the buffer.  
   
   
       14 . The system according to  claim 12  wherein the processing units provide the processed data stream back to the buffer responsive to another processed data stream.  
   
   
       15 . The system according to  claim 12  wherein the co-processing by the processing units includes at least one of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) reordering, cryptography operations including at least one of encryption, decryption, and authentication, and Internet Protocol (IP) fragment reassembly.  
   
   
       16 . The system according to  claim 12  wherein the buffer includes an input buffer having an input for receiving the data stream from a network interface, and a recirculation buffer having an input to receive the processed data stream from the one or more processing units and an output connected to the parser and the processing units.  
   
   
       17 . The system according to  claim 12  wherein the parser identifies when the data stream requires co-processing to continue parsing and directs at least one of the processing units to co-process the data stream, the processing units then sending the processed data stream back to the buffer for subsequent parsing by the parser.