1. A protocol parser generated onto a hardware structure, the protocol parser parsing an incoming protocol-oriented data stream transmitted with a given data rate, the protocol being packet-oriented and hierarchically built from different fields in packets, wherein the fields are classified in three different categories of fields, comprising: static fields having contents which can not be modified; dynamic fields having contents which can be modified; and guide fields containing values which can affect ongoing operation; and further wherein the hardware structure comprises: a first cell associated with a first match value, the first cell being operative to match static field content in the incoming data stream with the associated first match value, wherein the first match value is defined during a step of synthesis and can not be changed afterwards; a second cell associated with a second match value, the second cell being operative to match dynamic field content in the incoming data stream with the associated second match value, wherein the second match value is defined during the step of synthesis and can be modified on request afterwards; and a register operative to receive data located in the guide fields of the incoming data stream.