A computer which achieves highly parallel execution of programs in instruction flow form, as distinguished from data flow form, employing a unique computer architecture in which the individual units such as, process control units, programmable function units, memory units, etc., are individually coupled together by an interconnection network as self-contained units, logically equidistant from one another in the network, to be shared by any and all resources of the computer. All communications among the units now take place on the network. The result is a highly parallel and pipelined computer capable of executing instructions or operations at or approaching full clock rates. Each process control unit initiates its assigned processes in sequence, routing the first instruction packet of each process through the network and addressed memories and function units back to the initiating process control unit where it is relinked with its process. As each instruction packet is routed, the initiating process is suspended until relinking occurs. Because the instruction flow computer is fully pipelined, the first instruction packet of the second process follows on the next machine cycle, and so on, until all of the processes have been initiated, providing time sharing of a single pipeline by multiple instruction packet streams.
展开▼
