Patent ID: 7367052

Claim:
A method of composing an access list key for accessing information associated with a packet from an access list, the packet having an IP source address field and an IP destination address field, the IP source address field including an IP source address and the IP destination address field including an IP destination address, the IP source address and the IP destination address each having a number of bits, comprising: obtaining an IP source address from the IP source address field of the packet; obtaining an IP destination address from the IP destination address field of the packet; generating a modified IP source address from the obtained IP source address such that the number of bits in the modified IP source address is less than the number of bits in the obtained IP source address, wherein generating the modified IP source address includes removing one or more bits from the obtained IP source address; generating a modified IP destination address from the obtained IP destination address such that the number of bits in the modified IP destination address is less than the number of bits in the obtained IP destination address, wherein generating the modified IP destination address includes removing one or more bits from the obtained IP destination address; composing the access list key from the modified IP source address and the modified IP destination address; identifying an entry in the access list using the access list key that has been composed; and routing the packet according to information in the entry in the access list.