Intel Corporation

Ncube Corporation

Tektronix, Inc.

Doran K Wilde

Stephen R Colley

David B Johnson

David G Carson

David L Budde

Craig B Peterson

John A Bayliss

David Walter Jurasek

William S Richardson

Stanley P Kenoyer

John F Palmer

Robert P Voll

A parallel processor network comprised of a plurality of nodes, each node including a processor containing a number of I/O ports, and a local memory. Each processor in the network is assigned a unique processor ID (202) such that the processor IDs of two processors connected to each other through port number n, vary only in the nth bit. Input message decoding means (200) and compare logic and message routing logic (204) create a message path through the processor in response to the decoding of an address message packet and remove the message path in response to the decoding of an end of transmission (EOT) Packet. Each address message packet includes a Forward bit used to send a message to a remote destination either within the network or to a foreign network. Each address packet includes Node Address bits that contain the processor ID of the destination node, it the destination node is in the local network. If the destination node is in a foreign network space, the destination node must be directly connected to a node in the local network space. In this case, the Node Address bits contain the processor ID of the local node connected to the destination node. Path creation means in said processor node compares the masked node address with its own processor ID and sends the address packet out the port number corresponding to the bit position of the first difference between the masked node address and its own processor ID, starting at bit n+1, where n is the number of the port on which the message was received.

Hypercube processor network in which the processor indentification

A parallel processor comprised of a plurality of processing nodes (10), each node including a processor (100-114) and a memory (116). Each processor includes means (100, 102) for executing instructions, logic means (114) connected to the memory for interfacing the processor with the memory and means (112) for internode communication. The internode communication means (112) connect the nodes to form a first array (8) of order n having a hypercube topology. A second array (21) of order n having nodes (22) connected together in a hypercube topology is interconnected with the first array to form an order n+l array. The order n+l array is made up of the first and second arrays of order n, such that a parallel processor system may be structured with any number of processors that is a power of two. A set of I/O processors (24) are connected to the nodes of the arrays (8, 21) by means of I/O channels (106). The means for internode communication (112) comprises a serial data channel driven by a clock that is common to all of the nodes.

High performance computer system

A broadcast pointer instruction has a first source operand (address pointer value) which is the starting address in a memory of message data to be broadcast to a number of processors through output ports. The broadcast pointer instruction has a first destination operand (first multibit mask), there being one bit position in the first mask for each one of the plurality of output ports. The address pointer value is loaded into each of the output ports whose numbers correspond to bit positions in the first mask that are set to be one, such that each output port that is designated in the first mask receives the starting address of the message data in the memory. A broadcast count instruction has a second source operand (a byte count value) equal to the number of bytes in the message data. The broadcast count instruction has a second destination operand (a second multibit mask), there being one bit position in the second mask for each one of the plurality of output ports. The byte count value is sent to each of the output ports whose numbers correspond to bit positions in the second mask register that are set to be one, such that each output port that is designated in the second mask receives the byte count value corresponding to the number of bytes in the message data that are to be transferred from the memory. Once the byte count is initialized, data are transferred from the starting address in memory over each output port designated in the masks, until the byte count is decremented to zero.

Broadcast instruction for use in a high performance computer system

A number of intelligent bus interface units (100) are provided in a matrix of orthogonal lines interconnecting processor modules (110) and memory control unit (MCU) modules (112). The matrix is composed of processor buses (105) and corresponding control lines; and memory buses (107) with corresponding control lines (108). At the intersection of these lines is a bus interface unit node (100). The bus interface units function to pass memory requests from a processor module to a memory module attached to an MCU node and to pass any data associated with the requests. The memory bus is a packet-oriented bus. Accesses are handled by means of a series of messages transmitted by message generator (417) in accordance with a specific control protocol. Packets comprising one or more bus transmission slots are issued sequentially and contiguously. Each slot in a packet includes an opcode, address, data, control, and parity-check bits. Write-request packets and read-request packets are issued to the memory-control unit. The memory-control unit responds with reply packets. A message controller (416), bus monitor (413), and pipeline and reply monitor ( 414), run the memory bus in a three-level pipeline mode. There may be three outstanding requests in the bus pipeline. Any further requests must wait for a reply message to free-up a slot in the pipeline before proceeding. Request messages increase the length of the pipeline and reply messages decrease the length of a pipeline. A control message, called a blurb, does not affect the pipeline length and can be issued when the pipeline is not full. The different messages are distinguished by three control signals (405) that parallel the data portion of the bus. The message generator (417) and interface logic (404) drive these control lines to indicate the message type, the start and end of the message, and possible error conditions. The pipeline and reply monitor (414) and the message controller (416) cooperate to insert a reply to a particular request in the pipeline position corresponding to the particular request that invoked the reply.

Interface for use between a memory and components of a module switching

An arbitration mechanism comprising a request FIFO (408) for storing ones and zeros corresponding to received requests in the order that they are made. A one indicates that the request was made by the module in which the FIFO is located, and a zero indicates that the request was made by one of a number of other similar modules. The request status information from the other modules is received over signal lines (411) connected between the modules. This logic separates multiple requests into time-ordered slots, such that all requests in a particular time slot may be serviced before any requests in the next time slot. A store (409) stores a unique logical module number. An arbiter (410) examines this logical number bit-by-bit in successive cycles and places a one in a grant queue (412) upon the condition that the bit examined in a particular cycle is a zero and signals this condition over the signal lines. If the bit examined in a particular cycle is a one, the arbiter drops out of contention and signals this condition over the signal lines (411). This logic orders multiple requests within a single time slot, which requests are made by multiple modules, in accordance with the logical module numbers of the modules making the requests. The grant queue (412) stores status information (ones and zeros) corresponding to granted requests in the order that they are granted--a one indicating that the granted request was granted to the module in which the grant queue is located, and a zero indicating that the granted request was granted to one of the other modules. The granted request status information from the other modules is received over the signal lines (411). This logic separates multiple granted requests such that only one request corresponding to a particular module is at the head of any one grant queue at any one time.

Arbitration means for controlling access to a bus shared by a number of

A microprocessor receives addresses and data from a peripheral subsystem for use in subsequently accessing portions of the main memory of a data processing system in a controlled and protected manner. Each of the addresses is used to interrogate an associative memory to determine if the address falls within one of the subranges for a 'window' on the main memory address space. If the address matches, then it is used to develop a corresponding address on the main memory address space. The data associated with the peripheral subsystem address is then passed through the interface and into the main memory at the translated memory address. Data transfer is improved by buffering blocks of data on the microprocessor. Data bytes are written into the buffer at a slower rate than data blocks are read out of the buffer and into main memory. A buffer bypass register allows single bytes of data to be transferred to a single address by bypassing the buffer. Address development and memory response signals are generated by the microprocessor rather than the peripheral subsystem processor for block transfers.

Microprocessor providing an interface between a peripheral subsystem and

A phase multiplexed CCD transversal filter includes N substantially identical parallel-connected CCD's which acquire samples in a predetermined consecutive order over a given clock cycle so that the apparent sampling frequency is equal to N times the clock frequency. The output taps of the CCD's are weighted in a predetermined manner to provide a filter having a predetermined transfer function.

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Aloha, OR, United States of America

Doran K Wilde