Family of processors of different types configured for executing a common instruction set and method for executing instructions from the common instruction set using a processor of a specific processor type

A system comprising a processor of a specific processor type selected from a family of processor types each of which includes a different number of multiplication units, wherein processors associated with the family of processor types are configured for executing a common instruction set, the processor of the system being of a first processor type and the family of processor types including at least a second processor type distinct from the first processor type, the processor of the system comprising:

• 1. A first arithmetic calculation unit sharing a common design with arithmetic calculation unit in processors corresponding to other processor types in the family of processor types;
• b) a first processing control circuitry sharing a common design with processing control circuitry in processors corresponding to other processor types in the family of processor types;
• c) a first set of multiplication units, wherein a cardinality of the first set of multiplication units is different than cardinalities of sets of multiplication units of processors corresponding to other processor types in the family of processor types;
• d) wherein the first processor is configured to be execute a specific instruction in the common instruction set which defines a multiplication type to be applied to a first input data element and a second input data element at least in part by executing the specific instruction including repeatedly using the first set of multiplication units to perform multiplications for a number of multiplication cycles, the number of multiplication cycles being derived at least in part by processing:
• ii. the cardinality information of the first set of multiplication units, and
• iii. the multiplication type defined by the specific instruction.