Patent ID: 9306851
Filing Date: 2016-04-05
CPC Classification: G06F,H04L

Claim Text:
1. A network device comprising: a random access memory (RAM); a buffer coupled with the RAM; circuitry configured to copy data from a location in the RAM to the buffer responsive to a received identifier corresponding to a search key corresponding to a received packet; and circuitry configured to compare the data copied to the buffer with the search key to provide a result for use in forwarding of the packet, wherein don't care bits for the comparison are determined from a count of don't care bits encoded in a portion of the location in the RAM indicated by the identifier, and wherein the circuitry configured to compare comprises (i) circuitry configured to generate a vector mask from the count, (ii) an XOR gate coupled to compare a predetermined bit of the search key with a corresponding predetermined bit of the data copied to the buffer, and (iii) an AND gate coupled to compare a predetermined bit of the vector mask with an output of the XOR gate.