Associative memory architecture

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIG.
1, a functional schematic drawing of the associative memory architecture covered by the present invention is provided.
This associative memory includes different types of elements, namely storage elements, processing elements, and routing elements for data and addresses.
The storage elements are made up of different registers, such as an address register, a data register, a response register and a masking register.
The processing elements are made up of a masking unit, a scanning module, an associative memory map, a multiple response management module, a module for processing variable-length words and a control unit.
In FIG.
1, the address bus is labeled AB and the data bus DB, these buses allowing for the routing of the addresses (Ad) and the data (Arg), respectively, in particular to the scanning module, memory map and control unit.
The memory map (1) is made up of a set of static memory nodes, each node being generally constituted by a set of transistors and a comparison logic.
In effect, the search arguments (Arg) input into the associative memory are compared with the data stored in memory (for example, in a data register).
In addition to a memory map (1), the comparison media or means also include a scanning module (3), masking register (5) and masking unit (7).
The associative memory also includes manipulation media or means made up of a storage module for results (9), a response register (11), a processing module for variable-length words (13) and a multiple response management module (15).
In addition, it includes an address register (17) and a decoder (19).
The control unit (21) ensures the control of information exchanges between the different modules and registers of the associative memory.
The search argument (Arg) is input into the comparison media or means and, more specifically, into the scanning module (3), by means of the data bus (DB).
Similarly, the data contained in the memory map (1) are also sent down the data bus (DB), and the control unit (21) receives and manages information about these data