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:
Apr. 22, 2003
Filed:
Oct. 05, 1998
Jayasenan Sundara Ganesh, Veradale, WA (US);
Greg W. Davis, Spokane, WA (US);
Parmajeet Singh, Veradale, WA (US);
Timothy Scott Michels, Spokane, WA (US);
James E. Cathey, Greenacres, WA (US);
Alcatel Internetworking (PE), Inc., Spokane, WA (US);
Abstract
A switching device for forwarding network traffic to a desired destination on a network, such as a telephone or computer network. The switching device includes multiple ports and uses a lookup table to determine which port to forward network traffic over. The lookup table includes network addresses that are maintained in ascending or descending order. The lookup table also includes network address that differ in length. Fictitious network addresses may also be added to the lookup table to expedite searches in the lookup table. The fictitious network addresses are used in conjunction with a comparison field stored in the lookup table. The comparison field allows network addresses and collapsed network addresses (which represent groups of network addresses) to be stored within the same table. The collapsed network addresses allows for a reduction of overall lookup table size, thereby increasing the speed while reducing the cost of the switching device.