Patent ID: 7720055

Claim:
A method of switching packets in a network switch, said method comprising: receiving, by the network switch, at least a first packet and a second packet, the first packet including a first packet address and the second packet including a second packet address, on a source port of the network switch; performing concurrent lookups of the first packet address and the second packet address, wherein: the lookup of the first packet address is performed on an odd layer 2 and layer 3 lookup table, the odd layer 2 and layer 3 lookup table including odd addressed entries of source or destination addresses; and the lookup of the second packet address is performed on an even layer 2 and layer 3 lookup table, the even layer 2 and layer 3 lookup table including even addressed entries of source or destination addresses; and the concurrent lookups determine at least one egress port through which each of the first and second packets are to be sent; and sending the first and second packets through the determined at least one egress port, the at least one egress port being based on the concurrent lookups.