Parallel processor system with a broadcast message serializing circuit

Abstract

In a parallel processor system comprising a plurality of processor elements constituting a network, a source processor element wishing to broadcast data to a plurality of destination processor elements sends a broadcast request message containing the target data to a broadcast exchanger. The broadcast exchanger converts the received message into a broadcast message and sends it over the network to the destinations. A plurality of broadcast request messages, if transmitted parallelly to the broadcast exchanger, are serialized thereby so that only one broadcast message will be transmitted at a time over the network. This prevents deadlock from occurring between different broadcast messages. The routes for transmitting broadcast request messages and those for transmitting broadcast messages are arranged so as not to overlap with one another. This suppresses deadlock between any broadcast request message and broadcast message. The broadcast exchanger is replaced alternatively with one of the partial networks. These schemes all apply where long messages are transmitted through worm-hole routing.