Patent ID: 7593386
Filing Date: 2009-09-22
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A device comprising: a Network Processor; and a forwarding table operatively located within said Network Processor, said forwarding table including at least a Destination Address Subnet field, a flag field to enable multiple destination addresses to be aggregated into single entries of the Destination Address Subnet field, a Next Hop IP Address field, and an Outgoing Interface field, wherein destination addresses of subnets are carried in said Destination Address Subnet field, next hop addresses are carried in the Next Hop Address field, indicia that can be set and reset is carried in the flag field to determine whether a destination address of a packet of data or one of the Destination Address Subnet field is used in routing the packet of data, and identification numbers (Ids) for output ports are carried in the Outgoing Interface field.