TUPLE-BASED LOOKUP SCHEME FOR PACKET SWITCHING NODE

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a lookup scheme for application in recursive lookups while a tuple representing a plurality of flow characteristics is parsed into a plurality of subtuples. SOLUTION: A first subtuple including a first subset of bits in a tuple is applied to a flow information database, and a result including a nickname having a smaller bit count than the first subtuple is returned. A second subtuple including a second subset of bits in the tuple is combined with the nickname of the second subtuple before being applied to the flow information database. The lookups continue until the result indicates that no recursion is required. The final lookup result includes flow information applicable to one or more of modifying, enqueuing or forwarding the packet. A truncated lookup capability enables common processing across a group of distinct flows having common flow properties.