Importance

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Abstract

An apparatus and method for forwarding packets of data across a switching node on a network are disclosed. A packet of data to be forwarded includes a destination address, which can be partitioned into a plurality of subaddress fields. To improve speed of packet forwarding, destination addresses are processed in a pipelined fashion. To that end, the system includes a plurality of pipelined subaddress processors which process a respective plurality of subaddress fields of the destination addresses. Addresses are received during addressing intervals. During a first interval, a first subaddress of a first packet is processed by a first subaddress processor. During a next interval, a second subaddress processor processes a second subaddress field of the first packet destination address while the first subaddress processor processes the first subaddress field of a destination address of a next packet. Each destination address is stored in a table which associates destination addresses with output paths out of the switching node. The table is partitioned into portions associated with the subaddress fields. Each subaddress processor accesses the portion of the table associated with its subaddress to route the packet out of the node along the correct output path to facilitate delivery of the packet at the destination node.

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First Claim