MATCH RESOLUTION CIRCUIT FOR AN ASSOCIATIVE MEMORY

摘要

A system and method for determining a best match from a plurality of matches received in response to a search input for an associative memory includes a priority field associated with each data item stored in the associative memory. The priority field corresponds to criteria that is used to order the priority of the data items in the associative memory. A match resolution circuit is coupled to receive match signals from an associative memory, such as a CAM, and the priority fields of the matching data items. The match resolution structure compares the priority fields of the matching data items to determine which data item has the highest priority. The match resolution structure indicates the data item with the highest priority in the priority field as the best match of the associative memory for the particular search input.