The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 09, 2002
Filed:
Sep. 04, 1998
Multiprocessing computer system employing a cluster communication launching and addressing mechanism
Erik E. Hagersten, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Christopher J. Jackson, Westford, MA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A multiprocessing computer system includes a plurality of nodes interconnected through a global interconnect network which supports cluster communications. An initiating node may launch a request to a remote node's memory. In one specific implementation, the address base of the system is divided into “slices”. Different slices may correspond to the local memory of differing cluster nodes. The system interface of each node advantageously includes a lookup table which is used to associate selected address regions, or slices, with specific remote nodes for which the slices are local. Accordingly, when a processor within a node initiates a transaction on a local bus, the system interface of that node accesses its lookup table to determine whether that transaction should be conveyed to a remote node, as determined by the corresponding entry of the lookup table for that transaction's address. Otherwise, the transaction is a local transaction and is not conveyed upon the global bus network. More than one system interface may be provided in a particular node. In one particular implementation, a specific slice may have a valid entry in more than one of the node's system interfaces. In that case, the different system interfaces may be initialized to handle a subset of the accesses for that slice. For example, one system interface may handle even address transactions for that slice and the other system interface may handle the odd address transactions for that slice. In this manner, increased bandwidth to one specific node may be advantageously provided. In another specific implementation wherein several system interfaces reside in one node, a specific cluster slice may have a valid lookup table entry in only one of the system interfaces. In this manner, increasing the number of system interfaces may advantageously accommodate increased connectivity for the node with respect to the number of other nodes to which the node may be connected.