1. A method for processing a data communications binary data packet for forwarding said packet to a next destination within a data communications network, said packet including a data portion and an information containing portion having keys, each key having a data value, comprising the steps of segmenting said information containing portion into a plurality of information subset segments, each segment associated with at least one of said keys, creating and storing a binary tree decision table associated with each of said segments, each of said binary tree decision tables having a plurality of non-final nodes, and a plurality of final nodes, each of the tables representing a binary decision tree structure, processing each of said information subset segments using the associated binary tree decision tables to determine a filter mask for each segment, combining the results of each filter mask to provide a final filter mask for determining data processing to be used for said packet for filtering and forwarding said packet to a next destination on the basis of the data values of the keys being within preselected ranges of data values, and processing said packet in accordance with the processing results using said final filter mask.