a large - capacity cam is disclosed . ram core cells are used to store the cam data . the comparison function is not performed in the core cells , but rather in comparators which are placed adjacent to a plurality of core cells , in such a way that the plurality of core cells shares access to a single comparator . access to the comparator is shared by a time - division multiplexed means , requiring a plurality of serialized operations . these operations are self - timed and transparent to the user , because they occur in a single cycle of the externally - supplied clock .