System and Method for Filtering Addresses

An article of manufacture comprising:

• a computer readable medium;
• and
• computer-executable instructions carried on the computer readable medium, the instructions readable by a processor, the instructions, when read and executed, for causing the processor to:
• determine a plurality of addresses, each address associated with a port of a network device and including an address width and a plurality of positions, each position including a numerical component, the address width equal to a total number of positions;
• determine a plurality of masks, each mask configured to match one or more addresses and including:
• a mask width equal to the address width;
• and
• matching criteria for determining whether a given one of the addresses is to be filtered, the matching criteria including, for each of the positions:
• a matching component specifying that an identified position in the address includes a particular value;
• or
• a wildcard component specifying that an identified position in the address is to be ignored;
• and
• store the masks in a ternary content-addressable-memory (TCAM) for matching a candidate address to the masks to determine whether the candidate address matches any of the addresses;
• wherein:
• the masks include at least one mask with a wildcard component;
• a total number of masks is less than a total number of the addresses;
• and
• a total number of possible addresses corresponding to the masks is equal to a total number of the addresses.

An electronic device, comprising:

• a processor;
• a computer readable medium;
• and
• computer-executable instructions carried on the computer readable medium, the instructions readable by the processor, the instructions, when read and executed, for causing the processor to:
• determine a plurality of addresses, each address associated with a port of a network device and including an address width and a plurality of positions, each position including a numerical component, the address width equal to a total number of positions;
• determine a plurality of masks, each mask configured to match one or more addresses and including:
• a mask width equal to the address width;
• and
• matching criteria for determining whether a given one of the addresses is to be filtered, the matching criteria including, for each of the positions:
• a matching component specifying that an identified position in the address includes a particular value;
• or
• a wildcard component specifying that an identified position in the address is to be ignored;
• and
• store the masks in a ternary content-addressable-memory (TCAM) for matching a candidate address to the masks to determine whether the candidate address matches any of the addresses;
• wherein:
• the masks include at least one mask with a wildcard component;
• a total number of masks is less than a total number of the addresses;
• and
• a total number of possible addresses corresponding to the masks is equal to a total number of the addresses.