The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 09, 2000
Filed:
Apr. 22, 1999
Applicant:
Inventors:
Kenneth James Schultz, Kanata, CA;
Garnet Frederick Gibson, Nepean, CA;
Assignee:
Nortel Networks Corporation, Montreal, CA;
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G11C / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
365 49 ; 36518907 ; 36523003 ;
Abstract
A large-capacity CAM (content addressable memory) is disclosed. RAM core cells are used to store the CAM data. The comparison function is not performed in the core cells, but rather in comparators which are placed adjacent to a plurality of core cells, in such a way that the plurality of core cells shares access to a single comparator. Access to the comparator is shared by a time-division multiplexed means, requiring a plurality of serialized operations. These operations are self-timed and transparent to the user, because they occur in a single cycle of the externally-supplied clock.