Patent ID: 6977928

Claim:
A system for processing information units in a distributed processing environment where some but not all of the information units are to be sent to a plurality of different addresses, the system comprising: a substrate including a plurality of processors, each processor for independently receiving an input information unit and creating an output information unit; a dispatch unit carried on the substrate and coupled to the plurality of processors for receiving an input information unit and transferring the input information unit to one of said plurality of processors; a completion unit for receiving the output information units from the plurality of processors and transmitting the output information units in an order corresponding to the input information units were received by the dispatch unit; and a system for allowing the processing units to generate a plurality of output messages from a single input information unit, the system including an indicator created by the processing unit for each output information unit indicating whether the output information unit is the last output information unit created for the single input information unit, with the completion unit responding to the indicator and processing each message from a single input information unit until it processes an output information unit indicating that it is the last output information unit for the input information unit.