Patent ID: 7454491

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of transferring noncontiguous messages across a distributed computing environment comprising a plurality of processing nodes coupled together over a network, the method on a sending node comprising: grouping a set of data to be transferred into a series of transmission packets for transmission from an originating task executing on a sending note to at least one target task executing on at least one receiving node; packaging a description of a layout of a user buffer on the at least one receiving node into a group of one or more description packets; placing each of the description packets into a transmit buffer of the sending node and maintaining a count of the total number of description packets placed in the transmit buffer for transmission therefrom to the at least one receiving node; and identifying and gathering each of the transmission packets which represent data packets and forwarding each of the data packets to the transmit buffer for transmission therefrom to the at least one receiving node.