SYSTEM FOR ROUTING DATA PACKETS IN A MASSIVELY PARALLEL COMPUTER NETWORK WITH A NETWORK NODE ROUTING CIRCUIT

摘要

A system for adaptively routing data packets along routing paths in a massively parallel computer network (1), including virtual directional quadrants each having a preferred direction (2a, 2b, 2c, 2d); means for determining which preferred direction provides the shortest route between transmitter nodes and receiver nodes, wherein each virtual directional quadrant defines toric boundaries (3X, 3Y) and includes toric levels, and each toric level corresponds to a virtual network (4a, 4b, 4c); means for sensing when the packet crosses one of the toric boundaries, and means for sending the packet from one toric level to the next higher level when a crossing is sensed. Each virtual network (4a, 4b, 4c) includes an operative node region (5) and an inoperative node region (6), and the inoperative node region (6) of at least one of the virtual networks (4b, 4c) forms the operative node region (5) of another of said virtual networks (4b, 4c), and vice versa.