Dual Mode Floating Point Multiply Accumulate Unit

A Multiply-Accumulate Unit configured to process a plurality of different data types, the Multiply-Accumulate Unit comprising:

• a short format exponent data path, the short format exponent data path including a first channel and a second channel, the short format exponent data path also including logic for processing short format exponent data;
• a merged mantissa data path, the merged mantissa data path including a first channel and a second channel, the merged mantissa data path also including logic for processing short format mantissa data with long format mantissa data;
• and
• a sectional multiplier with re-configurable outputs capable of processing at least one of the following:
• a plurality of sets of short format data and a set of long format data, utilizing a common hardware structure.

A method of processing a plurality of different data types, the method comprising:

• receiving data at a merged mantissa datapath;
• determining whether the received data includes short format data;
• determining whether the received data includes long format data;
• in response to determining that the received data includes short format data, processing the short format data according to a control signal;
• in response to determining that the received data includes long format data, processing the long format data according to a control signal;
• and
• sending the processed data to output.