Patent · US Expired

Management of entries in a network element forwarding memory

US6118760A · kind A · utility

74Cited by
48References
36Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 30, 1997
Grant dateSep 12, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 30, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L69/28
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The invention generally provides for a network element and methods in the network element for allowing a matching entry in a forwarding memory to be found in a single search of the memory, for determining when an entry should be placed in the memory, and for determining when an entry should be removed from the memory, in order to make more efficient use of the fixed space available in the memory. The invention is particularly useful in making more efficient use of a Content Addressable Memory (CAM) for storing flow entries, and configuring the CAM to index an associated memory that stores forwarding and quality of service information for each CAM entry.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.