To assist in providing rapid searches of database records, integrated circuits have been manufactured that store database records, and rapidly compare (e.g., search) such records with a search key value (also referred to as a compare data value, or comparand). Such integrated circuits can include search engine devices and/or knowledge based processor devices.
To accommodate various types of compare operations, it can be desirable to provide databases of different sizes. Commonly, databases can have record sizes that are multiples of a smallest record size. As but one example, one database can store records of N-bit width, while others can store records that having widths of N×2, N×4, or N×8. A value N is commonly 72-bits.
In one type of conventional arrangement, for databases having larger record width sizes, a search key value can be loaded with a series of write commands that each write all but a last section of the search key value into a compare register, typically in a particular order. Compare operations can then be executed by entering the last section of the search key, usually with an instruction that starts (i.e., launches) a compare operation utilizing the now complete search key value. In such arrangements the last section of the search key is restricted to one particular segment. For example, for a record width arrangement like that noted above (144-bit, 288-bit, or 576-bit), the compare launch segment (the last segment written to initiate the compare operation) is restricted to the least significant bits (bits 0:71).