System and method for determining the topology of a reconfigurable multi-nodal network

摘要

A multi-node network manifests a changing topology of individual data processing nodes. An originating node transmits an initial identifier (ID) message over each interconnect link that emanates from itself. A receiver in the originating node receives an acknowledgement (ACK) message from each neighbor node, each ACK message including a neighbor node's link identifier for the link over which the ACK message was transmitted. The originating node constructs and stores a topology table entry which includes data from received ACK messages. Each entry includes a node identifier, an originating node link identifier and a neighbor node identifier from which an ACK message was received and a neighbor node link identifier for the link. An update procedure causes the transmitter to transmit to all other nodes, the originating node entry and further causes the topology table entries received from other nodes to be entered in the topology table of the originating node, so that all nodes in the system are enabled to thereafter identify the topology of the system.