Multiple bank cam architecture and method for performing concurrent lookup operations

Abstract

Content-addressable memory (CAM) architectures and methods of use are disclosed for enabling multiple concurrent lookups within a CAM array. One implementation arranges CAM arrays into multiple banks and enables parallel lookups of multiple key strings in multiple CAM banks. For a given input key, simultaneous parallel lookups in a plurality of CAM banks are performed by each bank using a bank key consisting of a subset of the bits of the input key. The multiple bank CAM is instructed to extract one or more distinct subsets of input key bits for use as bank lookup keys. Each bank key is passed to the appropriate bank according to the instruction received. Multiple bank sizes, depending on the key width and overall size of the CAM array, are also possible. Each bank produces a single output result, and each bank is returned to the host device that initially issued the lookup instruction.