Patent ID: 7779148

Claim:
A processor chip, comprising: at least one processor; a plurality of communication ports for coupling the processor chip to a plurality of other processor chips; heartbeat signal generation logic for generating a heartbeat signal for broadcasting over the plurality of communication ports to the plurality of other processor chips, wherein the heartbeat signal generation logic transmits source request information associated with the processor chip in the heartbeat signal broadcast over the plurality of communication ports to the plurality of other processor chips, wherein the source request information identifies a number of active source requests associated with the processor chip, wherein the processor chip is a source of the active source requests, and wherein the processor chip has not received a response from a destination processor chip for the active source requests; source request data structure storage that stores source request information for the plurality of other processor chips received in heartbeat signals from the plurality of other processor chips via the plurality of communication ports; and source request transmission and routing logic that sends the source request information of the processor chip in the heartbeat signal generated by the heartbeat signal generation logic and that selects a route for transmission of data from the at least one processor to a destination processor chip based on the source request information stored in the source request data structure storage.