Patent US 8,819,830

Circuits and methods for detecting, identifying and/or removing undesired content are provided. According to one embodiment, a method for virus processing is provided. A data segment is received by a general purpose processor coupled to a virus co-processor and a memory via an interconnect bus. The memory includes a first signature and a second signature. The first includes a primitive instruction and a Content Pattern Recognition (CPR) instruction stored at contiguous locations in the memory and compiled for hardware execution on the co-processor. The second is compiled for software execution. The data segment is scanned by the general purpose processor by applying the second signature against the data segment. The co-processor is directed by the general purpose processor to scan the data segment by applying the first signature against the data segment by storing the data segment to the memory and indicating a request for a scan to the co-processor.