Mcafee, Inc.

James W Lawrence

Chris Barton

James Malcolm Vignoles

A system, method and computer program product are provided for scanning data. Initially, scanning control logic is executed utilizing a central processing unit. A request related to data is then identified at the central processing unit. In response to the request, the data is indicated to a scanning co-processor coupled to the central processing unit so that the data is scanned by the scanning co-processor under the control of the scanning control logic. The central processing unit then waits for results from the scanning co-processor. Additional logic is executed utilizing the central processing unit while waiting for the results from the scanning co-processor. An event is then initiated based on the results from the scanning co-processor. By this design, the scanning co-processor offloads intensive scanning operations from the central processing unit.

Anti-virus scanning co-processor

A system, method and computer program product are provided for scanning data. Initially, a request is received from a central processing unit for reading data saved in storage. The requested data is then scanned. If malicious code is not found in the data during the scanning, the data is transmitted from the storage to the central processing unit. In a similar manner, a request is received for data to be written in storage. In response to the request, the requested data is scanned. If malicious code is not found in the data during the scanning, data is written to the storage.

Growing community of inventors

Aylesbury, United Kingdom

James W Lawrence