Systems and methods for spotting keywords in data packets are provided. In particular, input data is received to be searched for occurrences of a set of patterns, the input data being divided into multiple segments. Then the input data and the patterns are assigned to first and second pattern matching algorithms, the first pattern matching algorithm is configured to search only within each of the segments, and the second pattern matching algorithm is configured to search across boundaries between adjacent segments. Then the input data is searched using the first and second pattern matching algorithms.