EP0588104A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Multipath torus switching apparatus
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
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Filing: 1993-08-23
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2013-08-23
Abstract
Abstract Disclosed is a new torus switch with low latency performance. The present invention improves the torus network connection time by providing the capability to try multipaths in one single high speed operation. This multipath approach can be directed at establishing a connection between two specific nodes over various alternate routes simultaneously. The invention is such that if only one route is available, the multipath approach will find that path instantanteously and establish the desired connection with minimal latency. If several links are available, the multipath method establishes the desired connection over only one of the available links and leaves the other options free to be used by other connections. In addition, routing at intermediate torus network stages will be a vast improvement of the wormhole approach. <IMAGE>
Inventors
- 👤 Howard Thomas Olnowich
- 👤 Arthur Robert Williams
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-02 05:59
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04L; H04L49/00; H04L49/30; H04L49/3081; G; G06; G06F; G06F13/00; G06F13/38; G06F13/40; G06F13/4004; G06F13/4022; G06F15/00; G06F15/16; G06F15/163; G06F15/173; G06F15/17337; G06F15/17356; G06F15/17368; G06F15/17375; G06F15/17393; H04L1/00; H04L1/004; H04L1/0056; H04L1/0057; H04L12/00; H04L12/02; H04L12/16; H04L12/18; H04L49/25; H04L49/251; H04L49/256; H04L7/00; H04L7/02; H04L7/033; H04L7/0337; H04L7/0338; H04Q; H04Q11/00; H04Q11/0001; H04Q11/04; H04Q11/0428; H04Q11/0478; G06F11/00; G06F11/22; G06F11/26; G06F11/261; H04J; H04J2203/00; H04J2203/0001; H04J2203/0003; H04J2203/0005; H04L12/1881; H04L49/253; H04L49/254; H04L49/40; H04L69/00; H04L69/08; H04L69/18; H04Q11/0062; H04Q11/0066
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 23
Claim 1
Independent Claim
195 words
A multipath torus switching apparatus comprising: a switch interconnection network means for coupling multiple nodes through input to output port connections; a plurality of processor and input/output functional elements, which serve as nodes of a parallel system and are capable of transmitting and/or receiving information to said network; a data message means comprised of a message header and data for transmitting information via the said data network amongst the said plurality of nodes, wherein the node sending the said data message functions as sending node and the node receiving the said data message functions as receiving node; a message acceptance means, whereby said data messages are appended with cyclic redundancy code characters at the said sending node, which are compared to identically regenerated cyclic redundancy characters at the said receiving node and are accepted for further processing by the said receiving node if the compare is equal; a message rejection means, whereby said data messages are appended with cyclic redundancy code characters at the said sending node, which are compared to identically regenerated cyclic redundancy characters at the said receiving node and are rejected by the said receiving node if the compare is not equal;
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
47 words
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the said switching network operates asynchronously in relation to input signals received at each input port, needs no clock input of any kind to perform its control functions of establishing connections, and employs no buffering of data messages of any kind.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
49 words
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said input and output ports comprise a set of interface signals having at least Z data lines and two control lines: one for the purpose of enabling and terminating data message transmissions, and the second for signalling the rejection of a data message.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
49 words
The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said input and output port interface includes a third control line for the purpose of indicating the acceptance of a data message being received correctly at the specified receiving node after being transmitted through one or more of the said switching apparatus devices.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
40 words
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said switching apparatus is capable of being expanded by interconnecting identical switching apparatus devices by tieing the outport ports of said first switching apparatus to the input ports of other said switching apparatus devices.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
47 words
The apparatus of claims 1, wherein said switching apparatus is totally self-contained and makes all input to output port connection decisions based on connection commands received over the said set of input and output port interface signals without requiring any other external interfaces or clock generation support.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
32 words
The apparatus of claims 6, wherein said switching apparatus is capable of executing said connection commands from each of I input ports in parallel and capable of processing I connection commands simultaneously.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
25 words
The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said switching apparatus is capable of supporting unique transfers from I input ports to I unique output ports simultaneously.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
19 words
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the said switching network is interconnected and operates in a two-dimensional torus topology.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
46 words
The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the said two-dimensional torus network uses a single invention switching apparatus for implementing 5 switch and using 4 ports to implement said the two-dimensional torus topology and the fifth port to interface with one of the said nodal functional elements.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
53 words
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each said invention switching apparatus is capable of being commanded to operate in multipath mode by an multipath input signal being activated, where multipath mode is defined as the ability to attempt a connection between two nodes over more than one path through the said network, simultaneously.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
55 words
The apparatus of claim 11, wherein each said invention switching apparatus is capable of being commanded to operate in normal mode by the said multipath input signal being deactivated, where normal mode is defined as the ability to attempt a connection between two nodes over only one path through the said network at a time.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
76 words
The apparatus of claim 11, wherein each said invention switching apparatus is capable of receiving and relaying to any of the said I outputs a said data message sent to one of the said I input ports from a said sending node, where the said data messae is prefixed by a set of routing control words for the purpose selecting a path through the said network from the said sending node to the said receiving node.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
36 words
The apparatus of claim 13, wherein each said routing control word is constructed by the said sending node and interlaced with an all zeroes word used as a dead field in between every two routing words.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
47 words
The apparatus of claim 14, wherein each said routing control words are implemented such that one routing control word contains the information required in the said normal mode to set-up one connection path at each switch stage encountered while establishing a connection path through the said network.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
66 words
The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the said routing control words are implemented such that one routing control word contains the information required in the said multipath mode to set-up two or more multiple connection paths at the first switch stage encountered, or to set-up one connection path at each switch stage encountered after the first stage, while establishing a connection path through the said network.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
33 words
The apparatus of claim 16, wherein each said routing control word is divided into sections, where the number of sections equals the number of said multipaths and each section controls an associated multipath.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
56 words
The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said input and output port interfaces include fourth and fifth control lines for the purpose of implementing a path 0 control signal and a path 1 control, which are decoded to indicate which of four said sections of the said routing control word is applicapable to the present network multipath.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
52 words
The apparatus of claim 18, wherein each said invention switching apparatus is capable of generating the controls required to individually control up to four multipaths by generating 4 sets of multipath control signals comprised of two signals each, which are the said path A control signal and a path B control signals.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
57 words
The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the said torus switching network is comprised of individual multipath torus switching apparatus devices that respond to single connection commands or multipath connection commands and establish the commanded connection in two clock times, regardless of whether the said torus switching apparatus is the first, intermediate, or last stage of the path.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
42 words
The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the said torus switching network is comprised of individual multipath torus switching apparatus devices that are capable of functioning independently and without interrupting the processor nodal element connected to the said individual torus switching apparatus device.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
61 words
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the said torus switching apparatus is further comprised of a connection control circuit for each said input port and a multiplexer control circuit for each said output port for the purpose of connecting any of I inputs to any of Z outputs, where I and Z can each assume any unique value greater than 2.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
47 words
The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the said multipath operation establishes a single connection between a sending node and a receiving node which is the winning path, and all other multipath attempts are immediately halted and completely disassembled immediately on the establishment of the said winning path.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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