Method and apparatus for monitoring the status of CAM comparand registers using a free list and a busy list

摘要

According to one embodiment, a CAM system (100) may include a comparand register (CMPR) index block (106) for monitoring a status of comparand registers within the CAM blocks (104). A CMPR index block (106) may include a free index register set (120). A free head pointer (122) and a free tail pointer (124) can point to a start and end of a list of free comparand index values stored within a free index register set (120). A CMPR index block (106) may also include a busy index register set (126). A busy head pointer (128) and a busy tail pointer (130) can point to a start and end of a list of busy comparand index values stored within a busy index register set (126).