Abstract: A method and apparatus for determining the next router that a data packet is transmitted to on its way to a destination host by traversing a routing table using a hardware search engine and a unique search tree. The step of traversing each node in the search tree takes only one memory cycle, decreasing in half the time it takes to search a routing table and thus forward data packets on a system of computer networks. This is accomplished by storing the decision bit for each node in its parent node rather than in the node itself The apparatus may use a hardware search engine to search the routing table.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for processing a data packet to determine the routing of the data packet through a communications network is provided in which the data packet has a header portion and a data portion. The apparatus stores the header portion of the data packet, and processes the header portion of the data packet. The processing may include using a processing core for executing instructions for processing the header portion, searching through a route table to determine a route of the data packet, and searching through a table memory for information about the destination of the data packet in which the route table search, the table memory search and the processing core operate simultaneously to process the header portion and generate an internal header or a network media header. A modified header portion is generated to route the data packet through the communications network.