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. 05, 2005
Filed:
Apr. 10, 2001
Van A. Hunter, San Jose, CA (US);
Milan Momirov, San Francisco, CA (US);
Van A. Hunter, San Jose, CA (US);
Milan Momirov, San Francisco, CA (US);
Nortel Networks Limited, St. Laurent, CA;
Abstract
A method and apparatus for efficiently performing a longest match search are provided. According to one aspect of the present invention, an entry in a forwarding database, a routing table, or the like is located using an improved longest match search. A mask is applied to an address, such as a destination Internet Protocol (IP) address, to determine a masked address that is to be used for purposes of locating a matching entry in the forwarding database. The forwarding database is searched for an entry that matches the masked address. Subsequent masks are produced by performing an address-sensitive decimation of the former mask. For example, the former mask may be shortened based upon the location of the least significant bit containing a one in the masked address. According to another aspect of the present invention, data forwarding employs the improved longest match search. Data is received at a port. An address is extracted from the data. A forwarding database is searched for a longest match for the address by comparing a portion of the address indicated by a mask to entries in the forwarding database and using progressively shorter masks, determined based upon the masked address, for each subsequent search until a matching entry is located. If a matching entry is found, the data is forwarded to a destination associated with the matching entry.