US Patent 7886143 Multi-data rate cryptography architecture for network security

An architecture and associated methods and devices are described that include a plurality of stages of cipher round logic, each stage configured to perform cryptographic processing of plaintext data in a counter mode and output ciphertext data, a plurality of multipliers, each multiplier configured to receive the ciphertext data output from at least one associated stage of the plurality of stages of cipher round logic and continue the cryptographic processing to output at least a portion of an integrity check value (ICV), and control logic configured to provide a selection between a first option of performing the cryptographic processing at a first data rate using a first number of the plurality of stages and a first number of the plurality of multipliers, and a second option of performing the cryptographic processing at a second data rate using a second number of the plurality of stages and a second number of the plurality of multipliers.