Patent ID: 8775726

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a range determination module that determines a search range of content values within a ternary content addressable memory (“TCAM”), the search range comprising a difference between an upper content value and a lower content value; a search criteria module that creates a search value for a TCAM search from a search range by combining higher order bits that do not change within the search range with a don't care state in place of lower order bits that change within the search range; a match module that searches the TCAM using the search value to determine a match count, the match count comprising a number of content values stored in the TCAM within the search range; and a division module that creates an upper sub-range and a lower sub-range within the search range by creating an upper midpoint content value and a lower midpoint content value within the search range, the upper sub-range comprising a range between an upper content value of the search range and the upper midpoint content value, the lower sub-range comprising a range between the lower midpoint content value and a lower content value of the search range, the upper midpoint content value comprising changing a most significant bit of the search value in the don't care state to a logic “1” and the remaining bits in the don't care state to a logic “0,” the lower midpoint content value comprising changing a most significant bit of the search value in the don't care state to a logic “0” and the remaining bits in the don't care state to a logic “1”, wherein the range determination module, the search criteria module, the match module and the division module comprise one or more of logic hardware and executable code, the executable code stored on non-transitory computer readable medium.