Patent ID: 8331368

Claim:
Method of processing information packets in a telecommunication apparatus wherein the telecommunication apparatus comprises a layer-2 switch machine comprising first processing means having a forwarding table and residing in the data plane, second processing means residing in the control plane, and dual port memory means operatively coupled to the first and second processing means, said first processing means receiving and transmitting information packets by using the forwarding table, said dual port memory means being adapted to store data transmitted from said first processing means to said dual port memory means, and said second processing means being adapted to read data from said dual port memory means so as to update the forwarding table, comprising the steps of: A) receiving an information data packet at the first processing means from a telecommunication network; B) checking whether a predetermined value of said information packet has already been processed by said second processing means by determining if the predetermined value is already stored in the forwarding table; C) if the check at step B) is negative, the first processing means addresses a first port of said dual port memory means using addresses generated through a hash function to determine whether the first processing means has already written said predetermined value into said dual port memory means in response to receiving a previous information data packet, wherein the dual port memory means is a non-FIFO dual port RAM memory; D) if the determination of step C) is negative, the first processing means writes at least said predetermined value into said dual port memory means using the first port; and E) updating the forwarding table based on said predetermined value where the second processing means reads said predetermined value from a second port of the dual port memory means and updates the forwarding table based on said predetermined value; wherein said first processing means, upon determining that the predetermined value is not located in said forwarding table, checks said dual port memory for said predetermined value and stores the predetermined value in said memory only if the predetermined value is not already stored in said memory.