Patent ID: 6275861
Filing Date: 2001-08-14
Classification: H04L,Y10S

Abstract:
A semiconductor integrated circuit device for use in a system in a network to distinguish data flows from one another comprising:at least one input for receiving data units which make up flows;at least one search memory for storing data structures corresponding to a plurality of flow identifications;at least one search engine for performing searches at a rate greater than the arrival rate at said input of data, said search engine comprising a first dedicated hardware logic element having registers, said first logic element for storing searching parameters coupled to receive said data units, said first dedicated hardware logic element further for performing a substantially simultaneous recursive search on a plurality of fields of each of said data units according to flow identifications in said search memory to yield flow identifications of said data units; andat least one packet processing routing unit comprising a second dedicated hardware logic element having registers, said second dedicated hardware logic element for routing packets in accordance with flow definitions derived from said flow identifications provided by said data structures.