| 摘要 |
PURPOSE:To speed up the operation of a whole device and to attain higher throughput by providing a mask controlling circuit and controlling whether corresponding field is to be made an object of retrieval or not by retrieved data. CONSTITUTION:An associative memory cell array section 13 has an associative memory cell array 14 and a mask function circuit 15. From 16-19 are retrieval data supply lines corresponding to each bit, and 20 is the mask controlling circuit that receives retrieved data and prepare a mask signal and 21-24 are mask signals corresponding to each bit. The mask signal is made from the retrieved data itself by the mask controlling circuit 20. Various logics are considered as logic of the mask controlling circuit 20. For instance, logic is so constituted that if the value of a specific bit is 0, a mask signal 0 is outputted, and if the value of a specific bit is 1, a mask signal 1 is outputted. Anyway, by giving simple logic function to the mask controlling circuit 20, it becomes possible to control whether the field is to be made an object of retrieval or not using the retrieved data. |
