Data retrieval apparatus

A data packet distribution system comprising:

• an address data obtaining device for obtaining address data from a data packet;
• a data retrieval apparatus for retrieving a coincidence data, the data retrieval apparatus performing compare and read operations in a same cycle, the compare operation comparing the address data with a first register data read from a plurality of memories and the read operation reading second register data for a next compare operation;
• and
• a distributed destination data forming device for forming distributed destination data based on the coincidence data, a retrieval finish signal and a coincidence signal retrieved by the data retrieval apparatus.

A method for searching for a retrieval key in a plurality of data elements that are stored in an order based on magnitudes of the data elements, comprising:

• (a) retrieving a center data element from the data elements;
• (b) comparing the center data element with the retrieval key to generate a compare result, and concurrently retrieving a greater data element and a lesser data element from the data elements;
• (c) selecting either the greater or the lesser data elements as the center data element based on the compare result;
• and
• (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) until a desired difference between addresses of the greater and the lesser data elements is reached;
• and
• (e) outputting a retrieval address of a last center data element.

A data retrieval apparatus, comprising:

• a plurality of memories;
• an address converting device that maps logical addresses into physical addresses of the memories, the logical addresses being divided into a plurality of banks, register data stored in the memories corresponding to different ones of the banks are capable of being read during a same cycle;
• and
• a control device that controls a binary search operation to perform a register data retrieval based on a given key data, the control device providing a plurality of logical addresses to the address converting device for retrieving a plurality of registered data from a plurality of physical addresses of the memories in the same cycle during the binary search operation.