Efficient Content-Addressable Memory Lookup Result Integrity Checking and Correcting Operations Including for Protecting the Accuracy of Packet Processing Operations

An apparatus, comprising:

• a plurality of content-addressable memory operation portions that collectively perform a lookup operation on a lookup word in a plurality of content-addressable memory entries, with each of the lookup word and said content-addressable memory entries partitioned into a plurality of corresponding portions;
• wherein each of the plurality of content-addressable memory operation portions includes a plurality of content-addressable memory entry portions that store source vectors, matching logic to produce a portion match vector identifying the result of matching said source vectors in the plurality of content-addressable memory entry portions to a lookup word portion of the lookup word, error-correction unit to process the portion match vector and an error correction code (ECC) to produce an accurate portion match vector;
• and
• a result combination logic that generating an accurate result match vector by combining said accurate portion match vector produced by each of the plurality of content-addressable memory operation portions.