System having fixedly priorized and grouped by positions I/O lines for interconnecting router elements in plurality of stages within parrallel computer

A network for interconnecting a plurality of router elements to thereby form a routing system within a parallel computer system for routing data from source processing elements to destination processing elements, each of said router elements including a plurality of input lines and a plurality of output groups, each of said output groups having a plurality of output lines, wherein said input lines and said output lines of each of said router elements are fixedly prioritized by position, and wherein each of said router elements directs data from said input lines to said output lines according to an address signal which selects an output group such that is a first set of data on a higher priority input line is directed to a selected output group and a second set of data on a lower priority input line is also directed to said selected output group then said first set of data is directed to a higher priority output line of said selected output group and said second set of data is directed to a lower priority output line of said selected output group, said network comprising:

• a first connecting means connected to a first output line from a first of said router elements in a first stage of router elements and to a first input line of a second of said router elements in a second stage of router elements;
• a second connecting means connected to a second output line from said first of said router elements and to a second input line of said second of said router elements,
• wherein said first output line and said second output line are included within a first output group of said first of said router elements, wherein said first output line has a fixed higher priority position than said second output line, and wherein said first input line of said second of said router elements has a fixed lower priority position than said second input line of said second of said router elements;
• a third connecting means connected to a third output line from said first of said router elements and to a third input line of said second of said router elements;
• a fourth connecting means connected to a fourth output line from said first of said router elements and to a fourth input line of said second of said router elements,
• wherein said third output line and said fourth output line are included within said first output group of said first of said router elements, and said third output line has a lower priority than said second output line and a higher priority than said fourth output line, and said third input line of said second of said router elements has a lower priority than said fourth input line of said second of said router elements and a higher priority than said second input line of said second of said router elements;
• a fifth connecting means connected to a fifth output line from a third of said router elements in said first stage of router elements and to a fifth input line of said second of said router elements;
• a sixth connecting means connected to a sixth output line from said third of said router elements and to a sixth input line of said second of said router elements;
• a seventh connecting means connected to a seventh output line from said third of said router elements and to a seventh input line of said second of said router elements;
• and
• an eighth connecting means connected to an eighth output line from said third of said router elements and to an eighth input line of said second of said router elements;
• wherein said fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth output lines from said third of said router elements are included within a first output group of said third of said router elements, and wherein said sixth output line has a lower priority than said fifth output line and a higher priority than said seventh output line, and wherein said eighth output line has a lower priority than said seventh output line, and wherein said sixth input line of said second router element has a higher priority than said fifth input line and a lower priority than said seventh input line, and wherein said eighth input line has a higher priority than said seventh input line.