Patent · US Expired

Network routing table and packet routing method

US6956858B2 · kind B2 · utility

69Cited by
11References
26Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 29, 2001
Grant dateOct 18, 2005
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 24, 2024

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L45/54
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A routing table circuit for a router has one or more input ports and output ports for message communication. In the routing table circuit, one or more routing table memories store a plurality of routing table arrays. The routing table arrays are arranged hierarchically in levels, and each routing table array is associated with a predetermined subset of prefixes. Each routing table array has entries. The entries include a block default route pointer field to store a block default route pointer, if any, and a routing field. The route engine may access any level of table array by using a next level route pointer stored in the routing field. Using the block default route and the routing field, the present invention further reduces the number of memory accesses and the update cost for route insertion and deletion by identifying and skipping elements that do not require route updating.

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