US Patent 10002326 Compilation of finite automata based on memory hierarchy

At least one per-pattern non-deterministic finite automaton (NFA) may be generated for a single regular expression pattern and may include a respective set of nodes. Nodes of the respective set of nodes of each per-pattern NFA generated may be distributed for storing in a plurality of memories based on hierarchical levels mapped to the plurality of memories and per-pattern NFA storage allocation settings configured for the hierarchical levels, optimizing run time performance for matching regular expression patterns in an input stream.