22. The method of claim 21 further comprising: if the first hash value is present in the EC cache table, setting the stored set of NFA states mapped to the first hash value in the EC cache table as an epsilon closure of the set of NFA states received.
23. The method of claim 22 further comprising: if the first hash value is not present in the EC cache table, computing an epsilon closure of the set of NFA states received; and adding a new entry into the EC cache table, the new entry mapping the first hash value of the set of NFA states received to the epsilon closure computed.