Apparatus and accompanying methods, using a trie-indexed hierarchy forest, for storing wildcard-based patterns and, given an input key, retrieving, from the forest, a stored pattern that is identical to or more general than the key
US5995971A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 18, 1997 |
| Grant date | Nov 30, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 18, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S707/99943
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A technique, specifically apparatus and accompanying methods, which utilizes a trie-indexed hierarchy forest ("rhizome") that accommodates wildcards for retrieving, given a specific input key, a pattern stored in the forest that is identical to or subsumes the key. The rhizome contains a binary search trie and a hierarchy forest. The search trie provides an indexed path to each unique, most specific, pattern stored in a lowest level of the hierarchy forest and also possibly to increasingly general patterns at higher levels in the pattern hierarchy. The hierarchy forest organizes the patterns into nodal hierarchies of strictly increasing generality. For use as a packet classifier, the rhizome stores wildcard-based packet classification patterns at separate corresponding pattern nodes, along with, corresponding "reference" fields associated therewith. Operationally, as each different queue is established or removed, a corresponding classification pattern is either inserted into or removed from the rhizome. A search key is formed for each packet, typically by concatenating classification fields, e.g., source and destination addresses and source and destination port designations, appea…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.