Apparatus and method for enabling flexible key in a network switch
US9948482B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 27, 2016 |
| Grant date | Apr 17, 2018 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 29, 2036 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L49/252
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A network switch to support flexible lookup key generation comprises a control CPU configured to run a network switch control stack. The network switch control stacks is configured to manage and control operations of a switching logic circuitry, provide a flexible key having a plurality of possible fields that constitute part of a lookup key to a table, and enable a user to dynamically select at deployment or runtime a subset of the fields in the flexible key to form the lookup key and thus define a lookup key format for the table. The switching logic circuitry provisioned and controlled by the network switch control stack is configured to maintain said table to be searched via the lookup key in a memory cluster and process a received data packet based on search result of the table using the lookup key generated from the dynamically selected fields in the flexible key.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.