A word/bit parallel inexact match content addressable memory

The design of a content addressable memory (CAM) is described which evaluates Hamming distances greater than zero between the search key and the stored data with a word/bit parallel search instead of the word parallel/bit serial search used by other CAMs. This word/bit parallel searching makes this new CAM as efficient as existing CAMs for computations that require best match or other non-zero Hamming distances. Fully functional prototype chips have been fabricated using a 2/spl mu/ CMOS technology.<
>