International Business Machines Corporation

Antonios Maragkos

Fabrice Jean Verplanken

Jean Louis Calvignac

Michael Steven Siegel

Marco C Heddes

Brian Mitchell Bass

Piyush Chunilal Patel

Novel data structures, methods and apparatus for finding the longest prefix match search when searching tables with variable length patterns or prefixes. To find the exact match or the best matching prefix, patterns have to be compared a bit at a time until the exact or first match is found. This requires 'n' number of comparisons or memory accesses to identify the closest matching pattern. The trees are built in such a way that the matching result is guaranteed to be a best match, whether it is an exact match or a longest prefix match. Using the trail of all the birds and associated prefix lengths enables determination of the correct prefix result from the trail. By construction, the search tree provides the best matching prefix at or after the first compare during walking of the trail or tree.

Longest prefix match (LPM) algorithm implementation for a network processor

Novel data structures, methods and apparatus for finding the longest prefix match search when searching tables with variable length patterns or prefixes. To find the exact match or the best matching prefix, patterns have to be compared a bit at a time until the exact or first: match is found. This requires 'n' number of comparisons or memory accesses to identify the closest matching pattern. The trees are built in such a way that the matching result is guaranteed to be a best match, whether it is an exact match or a longest prefix match. Using the trail of all the birds and associated prefix lengths enables determination of the correct prefix result from the trail. By construction, the search tree provides the best matching prefix at or after the first compare during walking of the trail or tree.

Novel data structures, methods and apparatus for finding a full match between a search pattern and a pattern stored in a leaf of the search tree. A key is input, a hash function is performed on the key, a direct table (DT) is accessed, and a tree is walked through pattern search control blocks (PSCBs) until reaching a leaf. The search mechanism uses a set of data structures that can be located in a few registers and regular memory, and then used to build a Patricia tree structure that can be manipulated by a relatively simple hardware macro. Both keys and corresponding information needed for retrieval are stored in the Patricia tree structure. The hash function provides an n-&#x3e;n mapping of the bits of the key to the bits of the hash key. The data structure that is used to store the hash key and the related information in the tree is called a leaf. Each leaf corresponds to a single key that matches exactly with the input key. The leaf contains the key as well as additional information. The length of the leaf is programmable, as is the length of the key. The leaf is stored in random access memory and is implemented as a single memory entry. If the key is located in the direct table then it is called a direct leaf.

Full match (FM) search algorithm implementation for a network processor

Novel data structures, methods and apparatus for finding a full match between a search pattern and a pattern stored in a leaf of the search tree. A key is input, a hash function is performed on the key, a direct table (DT) is accessed, and a tree is walked through pattern search control blocks (PSCBs) until reaching a leaf. The search mechanism uses a set of data structures that can be located in a few registers and regular memory, and then used to build a Patricia tree structure that can be manipulated by a relatively simple hardware macro. Both keys and corresponding information needed for retrieval are stored in the Patricia tree structure. The hash function provides an n-&#x3e;n mapping of the bits of the key to the bits of the hash key.

Novel data structures, methods and apparatus for finding a full match between a search pattern and a pattern stored in a leaf of the search tree. A key is input, a hash function is performed on the key, a direct table (DT) is accessed, and a tree is walked through pattern search control blocks (PSCBs) until reaching a leaf. The search mechanism uses a set of data structures that can be located in a few registers and regular memory, and then used to build a Patricia tree structure that can be manipulated by a relatively simple hardware macro. Both keys and corresponding information needed for retrieval are stored in the Patricia tree structure. The hash function provides an n&rarr;n mapping of the bits of the key to the bits of the hash key. The data structure that is used to store the hash key and the related information in the tree is called a leaf. Each leaf corresponds to a single key that matches exactly with the input key. The leaf contains the key as well as additional information. The length of the leaf is programmable, as is the length of the key. The leaf is stored in random access memory and is implemented as a single memory entry. If the key is located in the direct table then it is called a direct leaf.

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Raleigh, NC, United States of America

Antonios Maragkos