Apparatus and methods for a distributed memory system including memory nodes

A method comprising:

• receiving an external message at a first memory node of a memo system, the external message including a first instruction to perform a first memory operation, wherein the first memory operation comprises searching for information related to a search key;
• responsive to the first instruction, generating at the first memory node a first internal message including a second instruction for a second memory operation, the second instruction not included in the external message;
• providing the second instruction to a second memory node of the memory system;
• performing the second memory operation at the second memory node responsive to the second instruction;
• and
• accessing a local memory of the first memory node to search for information related to the search key.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory system configured to receive instructions from the processor to access information stored by the memory system;
• the memory system including a plurality of memory nodes, wherein each memory node of the plurality of memory nodes is coupled to at least one other memory node of the plurality of memory nodes by a communications network and each memory node of the plurality of memory nodes is configured to generate an internal message including instructions for an operation different than the instructions received from the processor, the internal message to be subsequently provided to another memory node of the plurality of memory nodes to perform the operation, wherein the other memory node subsequently generates a further internal message to forward to a subsequent one of the plurality of memory nodes.