Processor book for building large scalable processor systems

• US 20040236891A1
• Filed: 04/28/2003
• Published: 11/25/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chung, Vicente Enrique, Arimilli, Ravi Kumar, Joyner, Jody Bern, Lewis, Jerry Don
• Application Number:
  US10/425,420
• Publication Number:
  US 20040236891A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/306
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/17337 Direct connection machines, e.g. completely connected computers, point to point communication networks coupling between buses G06F13/4004

Abstract

A method and system for providing a multiprocessor processor book that is utilized as a building block for a large scale data processing system. Two 4-way multi-chip modules (MCM) are utilized to create the processor book. The first and second MCMs are configured with normal wiring among their respective processors. An additional wiring is provided that links external buses of each chip of the first MCM with buses of a corresponding chip of the second MCM and vice versa. The additional wiring enables each processor of the first MCM substantially direct access to the distributed memory components of the next MCM with no affinity. The processor book is plugged into a processor rack configured to receive multiple processor books that together make up the large scale data processing system.

Claims

1. A processor book comprising:

a first processor chip module including a first plurality of processor chips interconnected by a first set of intra-module buses that are internal to said first processor chip module, said first plurality of processor chips including at least processor chips S₀ and T₀;

a second processor chip module including a second plurality of processor chips interconnected by a second set of intra-module buses that are internal to said second processor chip module, said second plurality of processor chips including processor chips S₁ and T₁;

a third set of buses external to said first processor chip module and said second processor chip module and which respectively connect each processor chip of the first processor chip module to a corresponding processor chip of the second processor chip module, wherein S₀ connects to S₁, and T₀, connects to T₁; and

means for providing each of said processor chips with an external connection point by way of an external bus, said means including a plurality of external routing buses each connected to a respective processor chip in said processor book.

2. The processor book of claim 1, further comprising:

a distributed memory with individual memory components coupled to each of said processor chips of said first processor chip modules and said second processor chip modules; and

wherein said first, second, and third set of buses provide bus bandwidth to enable access to each of said individual memory components by each processor within said processor chips without memory affinity.

3. The processor book of claim 1, wherein further:

said fourth set of buses provide connections to another group of similarly configured processor chip modules.

4. The processor book of claim 2, wherein further, said fourth set of buses extend from said processor chips into a connector comprising pins representing each bus within said fourth set of buses.

5. The processor book of claim 1, wherein said first set of buses and said second set of buses are 16 byte buses and said third set of buses are 8 byte buses.

6. The processor book of claim 5, wherein each memory component is coupled to its respective processor chip via an 8-byte data input bus and a 16-byte data output bus.

7. The processor book of claim 1, further comprising a fifth set of input/output (I/O) buses each coupled to one of said processor chips and which provides means for receiving external inputs and sending outputs from a respective processor chip.

8. The processor book of claim 1, further comprising routing logic associated with each one of said processor chips for directing data transfer within said processor book from one processor chip to another processor chip including from said first MCM to said second MCM and from said second MCM to said first MCM.

16. The data processing system of claim 1, further comprising routing logic associated with each one of said processor chips for directing data transfer within said processor book from one processor chip to another processor chip including from said first MCM to said second MCM and from said second MCM to said first MCM.

9. A data processing system comprising:

a processor book with an external connection point, said processor book including;

a first processor chip module including a first plurality of processor chips interconnected by a first set of intra-module buses that are internal to said first processor chip module, said first plurality of processor chips including at least processor chips S₀ and T₀;

a second processor chip module including a second plurality of processor chips interconnected by a second set of intra-module buses that are internal to said second processor chip module, said second plurality of processor chips including processor chips S₁ and T₁;

a third set of buses external to said first processor chip module and said second processor chip module and which interconnect each of processor chips S₀ andT₀, U₀, and V₀ to a respective one of processor chips S₁, and T₁;

a fourth set of buses extending externally from said processor book, said fourth set of buses including a plurality of external routing buses each connected to a respective processor chip in said processor book, wherein said external routing buses provide a connection point for components external to the processor book; and

components external to said processor book that are coupled to said processor book via said external connection point.

10. The data processing system of claim 9, further comprising:

a distributed memory with individual memory components coupled to each of said processor chips of said first processor chip modules and said second processor chip modules; and

wherein said first, second, and third set of buses provide bus bandwidth to enable access to each of said individual memory components by each processor within said processor chips without memory affinity.

11. The data processing system of claim 9, wherein further:

said fourth set of buses provide connection to another group of similarly configured processor chip modules.

12. The data processing system of claim 10, wherein further, said fourth set of buses extend from said processor chips into a connector comprising pins representing each bus within said fourth set of buses.

13. The data processing system of claim 9, wherein said first set of buses and said second set of buses are 16 byte buses and said third set of buses are 8 byte buses.

14. The data processing system of claim 13, wherein each memory component is coupled to its respective processor chip via an 8-byte data input bus and a 16-byte data output bus.

15. The data processing system of claim 9, further comprising a fifth set of input/output (I/O) buses each coupled to one of said processor chips and provides means for receiving external inputs and sending outputs from a respective processor chip.

17. A data processing system comprising:

a processor rack including a backplane with a plurality of connectors for receiving a plug-in head of processor books, wherein each connector of said plurality of connectors are wired sequentially to each other; and

a first processor book having said plug-in head coupled to a first one of said plurality of connectors, said processor book comprising;

a first processor chip module including a first plurality of processor chips interconnected by a first set of intra-module buses that are internal to said first processor chip module, said first plurality of processor chips including at least processor chips S₀ and T₀;

a second processor chip module including a second plurality of processor chips interconnected by a second set of intra-module buses that are internal to said second processor chip module, said second plurality of processor chips including processor chips S₁ and T₁;

a third set of buses external to said first processor chip module and said second processor chip module and which interconnect each of processor chips S₀ andT₀, U₀, and V₀ to a respective one of processor chips S₁, and T₁; and

a fourth set of buses extending externally from said processor book, said fourth set of buses including a plurality of external routing buses each connected to a respective processor chip in said processor book, wherein said external routing buses provide a connection point for components external to the processor book.

18. The data processing system of claim 17, said processor book further comprising:

a distributed memory with individual memory components coupled to each of said processor chips of said first processor chip modules and said second processor chip modules; and

wherein said first, second, and third set of buses provide bus bandwidth to enable access to each of said individual memory components by each processor within said processor chips without memory affinity.

19. The data processing system of claim 17, said processor book further comprising:

a second processor book also coupled to a second one of said plurality of connectors, said second processor book similarly configured to said first processor book and interconnects with said first processor book via a wire connection between said first connector and said second connector on said processor rack.

20. The data processing system of claim 18, wherein further, said fourth set of buses extend from said first processor chip into said plug-in head and terminate as pin connectors within said plug-in head.

21. The data processing system of claim 19, further comprising routing logic on said first processor book for selecting routing paths for transmission of data and communication both on said first processor book and off said first processor book to said second processor book.

22. The data processing system of claim 22, further comprising:

wiring means for completing a connection from one connector to another when said connector does not contain a processor book coupled thereto so that a complete connection path is always provided within said processor rack.