FRAME CLASSIFICATION USING CLASSIFICATION KEYS

摘要

An improved method and apparatus for recognizing, classifying and processing frames (58) received at a frame processor (10) in a computer network is disclosed. Following receipt of a frame (58) at an input port (14) of a frame processor (10), source and destination addresses are parsed from the frame (58). A plurality of lookup tables (130) are provided in a memory (102), each of which contains a search field (132) and a classification key field (146). Sources or destination addresses are stored in the respective search fields (132) along with other information associated with frame and a compact classification key is stored in the corresponding classification key field (146). Searches are performed of the respective search fields (132) within the respective lookup tables (130) to determine whether a match exists between each of the destination and source addresses and other information and the search field (132) within the lookup tables (130). In the event the searches yield a match, classification keys (146) associated with each respective addresses are retrieved and concatenated.