Device for flow classifying and packet forwarding device with flow classify function
AssigneeHitachi, Ltd.
InventorsYuichi Ishikawa, Takeki Yazaki
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A flow classifier having a flow CAM having plural flow entries, a search key generator for generating a search key of a format which differs by a flow condition, and a table holding a flow search result corresponding to an address of respective flow entry of CAM, in which access is made to CAM by the search key of a variable format including at least one header information item extracted from a packet header and the flow search result is obtained from the table in accordance with the address of the flow entry coinciding with the search key outputted from CAM to thereby constitute high speed formation of flow classifying by a variety of flow conditions.
Claims9
A packet forwarding device connected to pluralities of input and output ports for forwarding a packet received from the respective input port to any of the output ports specified by header information, said packet forwarding device comprising:
- a flow classifier for classifying a packet flow to which the packet belongs from the header information of the respective received packet;
- and
- means for executing a forward control previously designated for the respective received packet for the respective packet flow;
- wherein the flow classifier comprising:
- a flow classifying Content Addressable Memory (CAM) having a plurality of flow entries;
- and
- a search key generator for generating a search key having a format which differs by a flow condition;
- wherein access is made to the CAM by the search key of a variable format including at least one item of the header information extracted from the packet header.
A packet forwarding device connected to pluralities of input and output ports for forwarding a packet received from the respective input port to any of the output ports specified by header information, said packet forwarding device comprising:
- a controller for classifying a packet flow to which the packet belongs from the header information of the received packet and determining a forward control to be executed for the received packet;
- and
- means for executing the forward control determined by the controller for the received packet;
- wherein the control device comprising:
- a flow classifying Content Addressable Memory (CAM) having a plurality of flow entries;
- and
- a flow classifier comprising a search key generator for generating a search key of a format which differs by a flow condition;
- and
- wherein access is made to the CAM by the search key of a variable format including at least one item of the header information extracted from the packet header.
A device for flow classifying comprising:
- a flow classifying Content Addressable Memory (CAM) having a plurality of flow entries;
- a search key generator for generating a search key of a format which differs in accordance with a flow condition;
- and
- a table for holding a flow search result corresponding to an address of the respective flow definition entry of the CAM;
- wherein access is made to the CAM by the search key of a variable format including at least one item of header information extracted from a packet header and the flow search result is obtained from the table in accordance with the address of the flow definition entry in coincidence with the search key outputted from the CAM.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.