Method and Apparatus for Performing Improved Group Instructions

A programmable processor capable of operation independent of another host processor, the programmable processor comprising:

• a virtual memory addressing unit;
• a data path;
• an external interface operable to receive data from an external source and communicate the received data over the data path;
• a cache operable to retain data communicated between the external interface and the data path;
• a register file comprising a plurality of registers coupled to the data path;
• a multi-precision execution unit coupled to the data path, the multi-precision execution unit capable of executing group integer and group floating-point operations in which multiple operands stored in partitioned fields of one or more of the plurality of registers are operated on to produce catenated results that are returned to a register in the plurality of registers, wherein an elemental width of the operands is equal to or less than a width of the data path and wherein the multi-precision execution unit is capable of performing group integer operations on integer data of more than one precision.

A programmable processor capable of operation independent of another host processor, the programmable processor comprising:

• a virtual memory addressing unit;
• a data path;
• an external interface operable to receive data from an external source at a rate of at least 2 gigabits/second and communicate the received data over the data path;
• a cache operable to retain data communicated between the external interface and the data path;
• a register file comprising a plurality of registers coupled to the data path, the plurality of registers configurable to receive and store catenated data from the data path and communicate the catenated data to the data path, wherein the elemental width of the catenated data may be any one of the following types:
• 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit and 64-bit integer type and 32-bit floating-point type;
• a multi-precision execution unit coupled to the data path, the multi-precision execution unit capable of executing group integer, group floating-point and group data handling operations in which multiple operands stored in partitioned fields of one or more of the plurality of registers are operated on in parallel to produce catenated results that are returned to a register in the plurality of registers, wherein an elemental width of the operands is equal to or less than a width of the data path and wherein the multi-precision execution unit is capable of performing group integer operations on integer data of more than one precision.