1. A fast pattern processor, comprising: an internal function bus; an external function bus; a context memory having a block buffer and a argument signature register, said block buffer includes processing blocks associated with a protocol data unit (PDU); a pattern processing engine, associated with said context memory, that performs pattern matching; a function interface system, associated with said pattern processing engine, including: a controller arbitration subsystem that processes an issued function request received from at least one of said internal function bus and said external function bus; and a dispatch subsystem that retrieves said issued function request and dispatches said issued function request to at least one associated co-processor via said controller arbitration subsystem.