Patent Document ID: 7957384
Application ID: 12401253
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. An apparatus for transferring data through a network switch, comprising: a. a plurality of ports; b. receiving a frame of the data on one of the ports, the frame including a destination MAC address (DMAC); c. forming an input relation comprised of the destination MAC address (DMAC) and the database number (DBNUM) of the port that received the frame; d. a relational lookup engine storing a plurality of address databases as associates {a} based on input relations comprised of the MAC addresses and database numbers (DBNUM) for devices in communication with the network switch where each unique input relation is mapped to a unique associate; where the relational lookup engine is comprised of i. two or more Associate Processors, and ii. at least one Set Processor e. inputting an input relation in the relational lookup engine to retrieve the associate a; wherein the associate a is comprised of the destination port identifier or a pointer to a memory that stores at least the port identifier; f. transmitting the frame to the destination port identified by the port identifier; whereby the incoming frame of data is routed to the output port that is attached to a receiving device that has a MAC address that matches the destination MAC address contained in the frame.