TCAM BIST with redundancy
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsJohn A. Wickeraad, Jonathan E. Greenlaw
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of providing redundancy in a ternary content addressable memory (TCAM), the method including detecting a defective entry in building block in a ternary content addressable memory (TCAM), configuring a failover logic to redirect a software query toward a spare building block and away from the building block with the defective entry, and avoiding in using the building block with the defective entry.
Claims20
A method of providing redundancy in a ternary content addressable memory (TCAM), the method comprising:
- detecting a defective entry in a building block in a ternary content addressable memory (TCAM);
- configuring a failover logic to redirect a software query toward a spare building block elsewhere in the TCAM and away from the building block with the defective entry;
- and
- avoiding use of the building block with the defective entry.
An apparatus for providing redundancy in a ternary content addressable memory (TCAM), the apparatus comprising:
- a ternary content addressable memory (TCAM) comprising at least one building block and a spare building block, wherein a defective entry is detectable in the building block;
- and
- a failover logic configured to redirect a software query toward a spare building block and away from the building block with the defective entry, wherein the software avoids using the building block with the defective entry.
An article of manufacture comprising a memory or non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions to:
- detect a defective entry in a building block in a content addressable memory (CAM);
- mark the defective entry;
- and
- avoid using the defective entry by using an alternative entry within the CAM itself in place of the defective entry.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.