Patent ID: 8085779
Filing Date: 2011-12-27
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A system comprising: a receive interface to receive a packet comprising at least a destination address, a payload, and a key indicating a desired class of service for the packet selected from a plurality of possible classes of service; key deriving logic for deriving the key indicating the desired class of service for the packet from the plurality of possible classes of service selected from the group comprising uni-cast routing, multi-cast routing, and bridging; starting address logic for providing a starting address of a program sequence for processing the packet responsive to the key, the starting address selected from a plurality of possible starting addresses, each associated with a different class of service from among the plurality of possible classes of service, wherein the starting address logic is a content addressable memory (CAM) holding a plurality of entries, each having a tag portion and a content portion indicating the starting address of a program sequence for a desired class of service, wherein the CAM is configured to search for an entry having a tag portion matching the key and a content portion indicating the starting address for a program sequence corresponding to the desired class of service indicated by the key, and, when a match is found, outputting the content portion of the matching entry and a signal indicating a hit condition, and, when a match is not found, outputting a signal indicating a miss condition; a memory for holding a plurality of program sequences corresponding to the possible starting addresses; and execution logic for executing the program sequence corresponding to the starting address provided by the starting address logic.