Inventors:
Biao Gao - Santa Rosa CA, US
Yibin Yang - Santa Rosa CA, US
Charles Chen - Santa Rosa CA, US
Assignee:
Meriton Networks US Inc. - Wilmington DE
International Classification:
H04L 12/56
Abstract:
A router identifies in a data packet an address of a network device. An algorithm determines that the address and a first prefix in a tree data structure match up to a first mask length of the first prefix. The algorithm maintains the first prefix in a temporary storage location if there is a match, and determines whether the address and a second prefix in the tree data structure match up to a second mask length of the second prefix, wherein an external node of the second prefix is linked below an external node of the first prefix, and wherein the second mask length is longer than the first mask length. The algorithm maintains the second prefix as a better match of the address, if the address and the second prefix match up to the mask length of the second prefix.