A MULTIPROCESSOR SYSTEM, A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INTERCOMMUNICATING BETWEEN PROCESSORS, A SYSTEM FOR EFFECTING DATA TRANSFER, A SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING ROUTING OF MESSAGES, AND AN ARRANGEMENT FOR ASCERTAINING A GLOBAL STATE OF READINESS OF A SYSTEM

摘要

The arrangement, systems and method of the present invention are predicated upon the following concept.
A system using a sorting network (50a) to intercouple multiple processors (14, 16, 18-23) so as to distribute priority messages to all processors (14, 16, 18-23) is characterised by semaphore means (26 sec , 124, 126) accessible to both the local processors and the global resource via the network (50a). Transaction numbers identifying tasks are employed in the messages, and interfaces (124, 126) at each processor (14, 16, 18-23) are locally controlled to establish transaction number related indications of the current status of each task being undertaken at the associated processor. A single query to all processors (14, 16, 18-23) via the network (50a) elicits a prioritised response that denotes the global status as to that task. The transaction numbers also are used as global commands and local controls for the flow of messages. A destination selection system (26 sec , 120 min ) based on words in the messages is used as the basis for local acceptance or rejection of messages. This arrangement together with the transaction number system provides great flexibility as to intercommunication and control.