Patent · US Expired

Processing system and method for performing sparse matrix multiplication by reordering vector blocks

US5905666A · kind A · utility

43Cited by
11References
12Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 28, 1997
Grant dateMay 18, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 28, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F17/16
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method, system, and data structure are provided which facilitate matrix multiplication with advantageous computational efficiency. The invention, as variously implemented as a processing system, method, or data structure in a recording medium such as a memory, has applicability to numerous fields, including linear programming, where a great deal of multiplication of large, sparse matrices is performed. The method of the invention includes the steps of creating a first submatrix block from non-zero terms of a sparse matrix, such that all of the terms within a given column of the submatrix block are form a respective column of the sparse matrix, creating a corresponding second index submatrix block of the same dimensions as the first block, such that each term of the second block identifies the position of the corresponding term of the first block within the sparse matrix, in terms of a row and column index. Finally, the method includes reordering terms of the first and second blocks correspondingly, as necessary to produce a final configuration within the first and second blocks such that all of the row indices within any given row of the second block are distinct.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.