Semiconductor integrated circuit
AssigneeRenesas Technology Corp.
InventorsMasashi Takada, Takanobu Tsunoda, Hiroshi Tanaka
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In a dynamic reconfigurable processor, a mechanism for effectively storing configuration data with a small hardware scale and improving processing performance is provided. Also, a sequence mechanism that is easy to be implemented with flexibility and a high operating frequency being both achieved is provided. The configuration data is hierarchically stored, and without suspending a process in a processing unit, configuration data required for subsequent processing is transferred in advance from a first storage area to a second storage area. Also, with a plurality of sequence modes, a condition determination process is performed on different sequence conditions.
Claims15
A semiconductor integrated circuit comprising:
- a processing unit including a plurality of processing cells for performing a process;
- a data memory for retaining a process data;
- a data memory control unit including a plurality of data memory control cells for controlling an access to the data memory;
- a sequence manager for controlling a state sequence;
- a configuration manager for controlling a transfer of configuration data defining logical functions of the processing cells and the data memory control cells;
- a first bus for transmitting the configuration data to the configuration manager;
- and
- a second bus for connecting the configuration manager, and the data memory control unit and the processing unit, wherein
- the configuration manager includes a first storage area for storing the configuration data transferred via the first bus,
- each of the plurality of processing cells and the plurality of data memory control cells includes a second storage area for storing the configuration data transferred via the second bus from the configuration manager, and
- each of the plurality of processing cells and the plurality of data memory control cells can dynamically reconfigure the logic functions by changing the configuration data.
A semiconductor integrated circuit comprising:
- a processing unit including a plurality of processing cells for performing a process;
- a data memory for retaining a process data;
- a data memory control unit including a plurality of data memory control cells for controlling an access to the data memory;
- a sequence manager for controlling a state sequence;
- and
- a configuration manager for controlling a transfer of configuration data defining logical functions of the processing cells and the data memory control cells, wherein
- the processing cells and the data memory control cells can dynamically reconfigure the logical functions by changing the configuration data,
- the sequence manager has a first table having stored therein a number provided to a switch destination and a second table having stored therein the number provided to the switch destination, a current number, and a switching condition, and
- the sequence manager has a function of switching, during operation, between a first mode of using the first table and a second mode of using the second table.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.