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:
Sep. 12, 2000
Filed:
Jul. 07, 1998
William C Martin, San Jose, CA (US);
VLSI Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention is directed to providing a storage device, such as a content addressable memory, which enables multiple matches to be simply and efficiently examined during a multiple match cycle, regardless of the size of the storage device. For example, where two matched entries in a content addressable memory correspond to a search address, exemplary embodiments reduce the task of examining the locations of these matches to processing only two matched addresses as opposed to having to match all entries of the content addressable memory. By providing an efficient access to multiple matched entries of a memory, the multiple matches can actually be used in an ordered manner to access different branches of a secondary memory. The use of a relatively simple control scheme enables the control logic to be implemented on a single integrated circuit chip with the memory device itself (e.g., a content addressable memory). Moreover, in contrast to conventional content addressable memories, exemplary embodiments of the present invention enable the user to reset an original multiple matched condition, thereby allowing the user to perform several examinations of the data/address. Thus, if an error occurs during processing of multiple matches, the user can easily restart the examination process.