Patent ID: 7099324

Claim:
A data searching system comprising: a routing table for storing a plurality of next-hop addresses: a cache memory storing an IP flow table for storing at least one next-hop address which has been selected from the routing table: and an address pointer table for storing location information indicating an entry address of each next-hop address stored in the IP flow table and relationship information among entry addresses of next-hop address stored in the IP flow table, wherein the address pointer table comprises a plurality of memory blocks each having a fixed length on a recording medium, located at consecutive addresses, each memory block comprising: a first area for storing an entry address indicating a location of a corresponding piece of data stored in the IP flow table; and a second area for storing one of a next block address and a bottom-indicating flag, the next block address indicating an address of a memory block storing data following the corresponding piece of data, and the bottom-indicating flag indicating that a current memory block is a bottom of a list.