Signal transmission method, bridge unit, and information processing apparatus
AssigneeSony Corporation
InventorsHideki Mitsubayashi, Takeshi Yamazaki, Hideyuki Saito, Yuji Takahashi
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Abstract
An information processing apparatus having a fat tree structure, in which signal transmission across node columns managed by respective processor units is performed through end point bridges included in bridge chips. In this transmission method, the bridge chips perform routing by using node IDs that are given to the respective node columns and levels that indicate the hierarchical depths of the bridge chips, thereby selecting the shortest routes of signals.
Claims10
A signal transmission method for transmitting a signal to be transmitted between different processor units in an information processing apparatus having a fat tree structure including a plurality of processor units, the method comprising:
- issuing a signal from one of the processor units;
- and
- relaying the signal by a plurality of bridge units,
- wherein
- the relaying of the signal includes:
- inputting the signal to a bridge unit;
- and
- selecting which bus to output to and outputting the signal thereto based on an identification number of a column in the fat tree structure to which the bridge unit belongs, a level number of a row to which the bridge unit belongs, and an identification number of a column of bridge units managed by a destination processor unit.
A bridge unit for relaying a signal to be transmitted between different processor units in an information processing apparatus having a fat tree structure including a plurality of processor units, the bridge unit comprising:
- a plurality of bus bridges;
- an end point bridge which relays signal transmission between end points of two device trees managed by two respective processor units;
- and
- a switch routing circuit which selects which bus to output an input signal to, wherein
- the switch routing circuit includes a register which sets an identification number of a column in the fat tree structure to which the bridge unit belongs, and a level number of a row to which the bridge unit belongs, and
- the switch routing circuit selects which bus to output to based on the identification number and the level number set in the register and an identification number of a column of bridge units managed by a destination processor unit for the input signal to be transmitted to, and controls output accordingly so that the signal passes through any one of the bus bridges and the end point bridge.
An information processing apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of processor units;
- and
- a bridge unit which relays a signal to be transmitted between different processor units,
- the bridge unit including:
- a bus bridge which relays signal transmission within a device tree managed by a single processor unit;
- an end point bridge which relays signal transmission between end points of two device trees managed by two respective processor units;
- and
- a switch routing circuit which selects either one of the bus bridge and the end point bridge to which an input signal to be transmitted between different processor units is output so that the input signal reaches a destination processor unit through a shortest route.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.