METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IMPLEMENTING A LEARN INSTRUCTION IN A CONTENT ADDRESSABLE MEMORY DEVICE

摘要

A content address memory (CAM) device that implements a "LEARN" instruction. In response to the LEARN instruction, the CAM device compares comparand data with data stored in a CAM array of the CAM device. If a match is not found, the comparand data is written into the CAM array. For one example, the comparand data is written to the next free address of the CAM array. The learn instruction may further cause the CAM device to output the next free address after the comparand data has been written into the CAM array. For one embodiment, the learn instruction may be implemented in a single clock cycle.