1. A method comprising: performing content inspection across multiple packets to identify a search string having a first portion in an earlier packet and a second portion in a following packet, wherein the content inspection is performed via execution of a plurality of instruction threads; performing the content inspection of a first packet of the common flow with a first instruction thread; and performing the content inspection of a second packet of the common flow with a second instruction thread different than the first instruction thread, wherein the first thread maintains state information pertaining to the content inspection and the second thread employs the state information to continue the content inspection.