Patent ID: 7653062

Claim:
A packet forwarding apparatus, connected with a plurality of input lines and output lines, which forwards each input packet received from each of the input lines to an output line as identified by header information of the input packet, the apparatus comprising: a input line interface for header extracting unit for extracting from each input packet the header information; a memory access control unit for receiving the extracted header information from the input line interface, and generating at least one flow retrieval key from the header information; and a plurality of content addressable memories (CAMs) each of which receives the flow retrieval key from the memory access control unit, and compares and matches the flow retrieval key with a plurality sets of flow identification conditions each set of which is used for classifying input packets into a flow; wherein the flow retrieval key is outputted from the memory access control unit to each of the plurality of CAMs via at least one predetermined output pin, and the number of the CAMs is larger than the number of the output pin.