Patent ID: 6580712
Filing Date: 2003-06-17
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A system for performing address look-ups in an ordered data table within a switching device for a packet-based communication network, the data table containing entries which are in a defined searchable order and each include a media access control address, some of said entries each containing a respective pointer to another entry in the data table, the system comprising:a multiplicity of look-up engines for performing a look-up to locate an address in said data table; an LRU engine which is accessed by any of the look-up engines and is operative, in response to the location of an address in the table, to reorder the data table in accordance with a least recently used algorithm; and a token-based control for the look-up engines, said control including a token which is passed from look-up engine to look-up engine and allows only a look-up engine which is in possession of the token to access the LRU engine and thereby cause reordering of said data table.