Patent ID: 8176242

Claim:
A network apparatus, comprising: a plurality of ports; a forwarding engine coupled to the plurality of ports, the forwarding engine configured to transfer data units received via at least some of the plurality of ports to one or more appropriate ports in the plurality of ports, wherein the forwarding engine comprises: a content addressable memory (CAM) device to store a plurality of data patterns organized in a plurality of groups, wherein the CAM device is configured to, responsive to input data, output during a single cycle a plurality of match indications corresponding to the plurality of groups, and wherein the CAM device is configured to output at most one match indication for each group; a memory device coupled to the CAM device to store action values indicative of actions corresponding to the plurality of data patterns, wherein the memory device includes a plurality of action value outputs corresponding to the plurality of groups, wherein the memory device is configured so that i) each action value corresponds to a respective one of the data patterns in the CAM device, and ii) action values corresponding to a same type of action to be taken correspond to only one group; and a logic device coupled to the CAM device and configured to generate an action value based on the plurality of match indications, wherein the action value indicates an action to be taken by the forwarding engine.