Patent ID: 7835284

Claim:
A method for inter-nodal packet routing in a parallel computer system, said parallel computer system comprising a plurality of nodes arranged in a regular lattice network of node-to-node communications links for inter-nodal communications, each node comprising at least one processor for executing a respective application sub-process and a nodal memory, said method comprising the steps of: at each of a plurality of said nodes of said parallel computer system, automatically routing each of a plurality of packets along said node-to-node communications links of said network using an automated routing strategy, said automated routing strategy determining, for any pair of nodes of said plurality of nodes of said parallel computer system, a respective path along said network from a first node of the respective pair of nodes to a second node of the respective pair of nodes based on the arrangement of said regular lattice network, wherein each said packet has a respective source node of said plurality of nodes and a respective destination node of said plurality of nodes, and at least some of said packets must traverse one or more respective intermediate nodes between the respective source node and the respective destination node; with respect to a subset of said packets, said subset containing a plurality of said packets, receiving a designation of a respective transporter node of said plurality of nodes for each said packet, each said respective transporter node for alleviating congestion in at least one respective portion of said network, wherein a respective path along said network from the respective source node of each packet of said subset to the respective destination node of each said packet of said subset determined according to said automated routing strategy includes the at least one respective portion of said network and does not include the respective transporter node; with respect to each packet of said subset, selecting a respective first path along said network from the respective source node to the respective transporter node determined according to said automated routing strategy; with respect to each packet of said subset, selecting a respective second path along said network from the respective transporter node to the respective destination node determined according to said automated routing strategy; and automatically routing each said packet of said subset along its respective first path as determined by said step of selecting a respective first path from the respective source node to the respective transporter node and thence along its respective second path as determined by said step of selecting a respective second path from the respective transporter node to the respective destination node.