Patent ID: 7474658

Claim:
A method of data processing in a data processing system including a first processing node and a second processing node coupled by an interconnect fabric, wherein said first processing node includes one or more first processing units including said processing unit that are coupled to each other for communication and said second processing node includes one or more second processing units coupled to each other for communication, said method comprising: a first processing unit in said first processing node processing a plurality of concurrently pending broadcast operations of differing broadcast scope, wherein at least a first of said plurality of concurrently pending broadcast operations has a first scope limited to said first processing node and at least a second of said plurality of concurrently pending broadcast operations has a second scope including said first processing node and said second processing node; and said first processing unit placing a scope indicator indicating a broadcast scope in at least a request of each operation among said plurality of concurrently pending broadcast operations originated by said first processing unit; wherein said processing comprises: said first processing unit broadcasting a request of said first scope to each of said plurality of node leaf processing units; said plurality of node leaf processing units each providing an individual partial response to said first processing unit; and said first processing unit broadcasting a combined response for said request to each of said plurality of node leaf processing units.