| 摘要 |
A digital memory comprising a multiplicity of circulating storage loops, in each of which, a plurality of digital data records are stored, and apparatus for sorting the data records. More particularly, a plurality of distributed processing elements perform a parallel sorting operation of each column of data records, where each column of data records is comprised of one data record in each circulating storage loop and the data records comprising each column are disposed in the same record position within their respective circulating storage loops. Thereafter, the apparatus performs a "precession" of the data records whereby the data records in each circulating storage loop are shifted one record position, in a common direction, with respect to the data records stored in the next preceding circulating storage loop. The apparatus repeats the column sorting operation and the precessions alternately until the column sort has been performed a number of times equal to the number of data record positions in each circulating storage loop. At this point the memory contents are sorted into "buckets," that is, the data records in each circulating loop are sorted with respect to the data records in every remaining loop though not necessarily with respect to each other. Apparatus is also provided to perform a final sort of the data records within each circulating storage loop. Additionally, the processing elements may be arranged to perform a variety of functions such as searching, retrieval, updating, and dynamic reconfiguration of the memory.
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