Transport processor
The present invention relates to a system and method for processing information, specifically data packets. One embodiment of the present invention relates to a method for processing information, comprising determining if a first identifier associated with the information is acceptable and assigning a second identifier to the information. The method further includes determining a type of processing that is required using the second identifier and performing that type of processing on the information.
1 . A method for processing information, comprising:
(a) determining if a first identifier associated with the information is acceptable;
(b) assigning a second identifier to the information;
(c) determining a type of processing that is required using said second identifier; and
(d) performing said type of processing on the information.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising repeating steps (a) through (d) in a repetitive manner.
3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
(e) determining if there is any other information to be processed; and
(f) terminating the method if there is no other information to be processed.
4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving the information.
5 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising receiving the information from at least one input band.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said information comprises at least one packet of data.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said first identifier is a program identifier.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said second identifier is a unique tag.
9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising indicating what processing is required using said second identifier.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining if said first identifier is acceptable further comprises determining if said first identifier is stored in an identifier table.
11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said type of processing comprises at least one of at least encrypting, decrypting, filtering or buffering.
12 . A method for processing at least one data packet using a data processor, comprising:
(a) receiving the at least one data packet from at least one input band;
(b) determining if a packet identifier associated with the data packet is acceptable;
(c) assigning a tag to the data packet;
(d) communicating the tag to at least one processing block;
(e) determining if processing of the data packet is required using said tag;
(f) determing a type of processing that is needed based on said tag; and
(g) performing said type of processing.
13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising repeating steps (a) through (g) in a repetitive manner.
14 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
(h) determining if there is any more data packets to be processed; and
(i) terminating the method if there are no more data packets to be processed.
15 . The method of claim 12 , wherein determining if said packet identifier is acceptable further comprises determining if said packet identifier is stored in an identifier table.
16 . The method of claim 12 , wherein said type of processing comprises at least one of at least encrypting, decrypting, filtering or buffering.
17 . A transport processor for processing data packets, comprising at least a parser device adapted to assign a unique tag to the data packets based on a packet identifier.
18 . The transport processor of claim 17 , further comprising a packet identifier table communicating with the parser device and adapted to store information regarding at least one acceptable packet identifier.
19 . The transport processor of claim 18 , wherein said parser device is further adapted to determine if said packet identifier is acceptable based on said information stored in said packet identifier table.
20 . The transport processor of claim 17 , further comprising at least one processing block adapted to process said data packets based on said unique tag.