US 7,469,317 B2
Method and system for character string searching
Robert Elliott Robotham, Ottawa (Canada)
Assigned to Alcatel Lucent, Paris (France)
Filed on Sep. 12, 2006, as Appl. No. 11/519,071.
Prior Publication US 2008/0065821 A1, Mar. 13, 2008
Int. Cl. G06F 12/00 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 711—118  [711/216] 33 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for searching entries in a ternary content addressable memory (“TCAM”) device for one or more matches to an input, comprising:
(a) providing a first portion of the input to the TCAM and receiving a first indication from the TCAM as to whether the first portion matches one or more of the entries in the TCAM; and,
(b) if the first indication is negative, providing a second portion of the input combined with a hashed version of the first portion to the TCAM and receiving a second indication from the TCAM as to whether the second portion combined with the hashed version of the first portion matches one or more of the entries in the TCAM.