Method of generating TCAM entry and method and apparatus for searching for TCAM entry

Abstract

Provided is a method of generating and searching for a single ternary content addressable memory (TCAM) entry for range search and exact-match search. First, it is determined whether an entry to be added is a range search entry or an exact-match search entry. When the entry is the range search entry, a bit at a predetermined position in the upper m bits corresponding to a range represented by the entry is set to “1” and the remaining bits including lower n bits is set to a “don't care” bit x, based on a range table for representing position information of one of the upper m bits which is set to “1” in ranges. When the entry is the exact-match search entry, the upper m bits is set to “don't care” bit x and the lower n bits is set to the entry value. By generating and searching for a single TCAM entry for a range search and an exact-match search, a space for storing the TCAM entry can be optimized and efficiency thereof can be improved.

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