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. 30, 2006
Filed:
Apr. 23, 2003
Nelson L. Chow, Mountain View, CA (US);
Paul Cheng, San Jose, CA (US);
Nelson L. Chow, Mountain View, CA (US);
Paul Cheng, San Jose, CA (US);
Integrated Silicon Solution, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A content addressable memory (CAM) system includes CAM banks that can be linked together in a series to form a CAM module. Each CAM bank includes a CAM array with rows. In a lookup operation, each row asserts a field-match signal when a field from a key matches the field of a CAM entry held in the row. Each CAM bank receives a link-control signal, each received from the preceding CAM bank match-in signals for the rows, and each generates match-out signals for the rows. Some embodiments dynamically configure the CAM system into one or more independent CAM modules of various widths, according to data held in a configuration register or to the current value of the key or other search information. Some embodiments include multiple priority encoders that can be coupled to the match-out signals of dynamically selected CAM banks, thus advantageously allowing parallel lookup operations in the CAM modules.