Programmable pattern match engine

• US 7,010,802 B1
• Filed: 03/01/2000
• Issued: 03/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: MaxLinear Communications, LLC (f/k/a Entropic Communications, LLC) (Maxlinear Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Conexant Systems Incorporated (Synaptics Incorporated)
• Inventors: Bernath, Brett A., Goldenberg, Moshe, Brooks, John M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kelley, Chris
• Assistant Examiner(s): SHANG, ANNAN Q
• Application Number:
  US09/516,284
• Time in Patent Office: 2,197 Days
• Field of Search: 725/111, 725/85, 725/100, 725/131, 725/139, 725/151, 725/68, 370465-486, 370/242, 370/222
• US Class Current: 725/111
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2801 Broadband local area networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/12 Protocol engines
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42676 for modulating an analogue carrier signal to encode digital information or demodulating it to decode digital information, e.g. ADSL or cable modem
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6118 involving cable transmission, e.g. using a cable modem

Abstract

A communication device such as a cable modem that has a first interface for receiving data from a cable media, and a pattern matching engine that evaluates patterns in the data that is received at the first interface of the cable modem and that enables the determination of appropriate procedures for treatment of the data. The pattern matching engine of the cable modem may be configured to match address segments of the data that is received at the first interface of the cable modem. In addition, the pattern matching engine is often a programmable pattern matching engine that may be programmed according to patterns that are desired to matched during various operations of the cable modem. Of note, the pattern matching engine enables pattern matching of various length frame portions. Various aspects of the present invention may also be found in a method for a communication device to compare a predetermined pattern to a pattern that corresponds to a portion of a data frame. The method includes determining acceptable parameters for the data frames that are to be received at the communication device; programming the acceptable parameters into a pattern matching engine in the communication device; receiving a data frame at the communication device; parsing the data frame to obtain a predetermined portion of the data frame; comparing the predetermined portion of the data frame with the acceptable parameters stored in the pattern matching engine; and registering the result of the comparison in a suitable format for access by a microprocessor.

Claims

1. A system for receiving data comprising:

a programmable pattern matching engine receiving a pattern and a data stream and generating an index entry if the pattern is present in the data stream, wherein the programmable pattern matching engine performs one or more of address filtering, logical link control (LLC) filtering, protocol identifier (PID) filtering, and security ID (SID) filtering in a Multimedia Cable Network System (MCNS);

a programmable media access controller reading the index entry and determining whether to continue receipt of the data stream;

a CRC engine performing CRC processing of a received data frame if the programmable media access controller determines to continue receipt of the data stream; and

a cable modem DMA controller coupled to the programmable media access controller, the programmable pattern matching engine, and the CRC engine, the cable modem DMA controller facilitating movement of data between the programmable media access controller, the programmable pattern matching engine, and the CRC engine.

2. The system of claim 1 further wherein the pattern comprises one or more of a MAC address, an IP address and a protocol identifier (PID) of an MPEG frame.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the CRC engine further comprises a DES/CRC engine performing DES decryption or CRC processing of a received data frame if the programmable media access controller determines to continue receipt of the data stream.

4. A cable modem comprising:

a programmable media access controller;

a programmable pattern matching engine that is programmed by the media access controller, wherein the Programmable pattern matching engine Performs one or more of address filtering, logical link control (LLC) filtering, protocol identifier (PID) filtering, and security ID (SID) filtering in a Multimedia Cable Network System (MCNS);

a programmable CRC engine that is programmed by the media access controller, and

a cable modem DMA controller coupled to the programmable media access controller, the programmable pattern matching engine, and the programmable CRC engine, the cable modem DMA controller facilitating movement of data between the programmable media access controller, the programmable pattern matching engine, and the programmable CRC engine.

5. The cable modem of claim 4 wherein the pattern matching engine matches address segments of data that is received at a first interface of the cable modem.

6. The cable modem of claim 5 wherein the pattern matching engine enables pattern matching of different length frame portions.

7. The cable modem of claim 6 wherein the different-length frame portions are selected from the group comprising bit length, byte length, word length, double word length, kilobyte length, and megabyte length.

8. The cable modem of claim 4 wherein the pattern matching engine determines whether to accept a frame at the cable modem quicker than if the cable modem were required to wait on processing at a central microprocessor.

9. The cable modem of claim 4 wherein patterns in the data comprise one or more of a MAC address, an IP address, and a protocol identifier PID of an MPEG frame.

10. The cable modem of claim 4 wherein an operation of the cable modem comprises one or more of logical link control (LLC) filtering, protocol identifier (PID) filtering, and security ED (SID) filtering in a Multimedia Cable Network System (MCNS).

11. The cable modem system of claim 4 wherein the programmable CRC engine performs DES decryption or CRC processing of a received data frame after a microprocessor receives data from the pattern matching engine and determines to accept a received frame based on the data received from the pattern matching engine.

12. A method for receiving data comprising:

determining two or more acceptable parameters for data frames that are to be received, wherein the acceptable parameters include one or more of address filtering, logical link control (LLC) filtering, protocol identifier (PID) filtering, and security ID (SID) filtering in a Multimedia Cable Network System (MCNS);

programming at least one of the acceptable parameters into a pattern matching engine;

programming at least one of the acceptable parameters into a DES/CRC engine;

receiving a data frame at a communication device;

passing the data frame to obtain a predetermined portion of the data frame;

comparing the predetermined portion of the data frame with at least one of the acceptable parameters stored in the pattern matching engine;

processing the data frame with the DES/CRC engine if the predetermined portion of the data frame matches that least one of the acceptable parameters; and

facilitating movement of data between the programmable media access controller, the pattern matching engine, and the DES/CRC engine.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising registering the result of the comparison in a suitable format for access by a microprocessor.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising reading the registered results with a microprocessor such that the microprocessor may determine whether to drop or accept the data frame that has been received at the communication device.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the predetermined portion of the data frame is an address portion of the data frame.