Patent ID: 7606967

Claim:
A frame transfer method comprising the steps of: setting to enable a data entry into a content addressable memory with an enable bit signal through a PCI bus; and entering, upon receipt of a transfer frame addressed to a first apparatus from a line bus which is faster in speed than the PCI bus, header information of the frame into the content addressable memory not through the PCI bus, based on the setting that the entry is enabled, the enable bit signal being set to OFF in a normal operation where the header information of the frame from the line bus is extracted for retrieval of the content addressable memory based on the header information and the frame is transferred only at a time of hit by the retrieval, and being set to ON in an entry operation of the content addressable memory where the header information of the frame from the line bus is extracted and is entered into the content addressable memory only when the header information is destined to the first apparatus itself.