Circuitry and method for addressing global array elements in a distributed memory, multiple processor computer

摘要

A method of addressing an arbitrary global element stored within a first local memory associated with a first processing device is described for a distributed memory computers which includes a multiplicity of processing devices each having an associated base pointer or memory location and an associated memory, each of the local memories storing a subarray of a global array, each subarray having a subarray base element, each of the memories having a subarray base element memory address with said global array including a multiplicity of global elements. The method includes the steps of calculating subarray offsets for each subarray, calculating base pointer values for each processing device based upon its associated subarray offset, generating base pointer electrical values represented of a base pointer values, storing base pointer electrical signals within base pointer memory location, receiving an offset signal representative of the offset of the arbitrary global element, and generating address signals for the first local memory by combining the base pointer electrical signal for the first processing device with the arbitrary with element offset signals. Circuitry for addressing an arbitrary global element stored within a first local memory associated with a first processing device is also described in a context of the distributed memory computer having a multiplicity of processing devices, each one having a base pointer memory location and an associated memory, each of the memory storing a subarray of a global array and having a base element, each memory having a base element address and the global array including a multiplicity of global elements.