Acoustic Processing Unit

A method for acoustic modeling, the method comprising:

• receiving a plurality of Gaussian probability distributions via a data bus having a width of at least one Gaussian probability distribution and a feature vector from an external computing device;
• calculating a plurality of dimension distance scores based on a plurality of dimensions of the feature vector and a corresponding plurality of dimensions of the at least one Gaussian probability distribution;
• summing the plurality of dimension distance scores to generate a Gaussian distance score for the at least one Gaussian probability distribution;
• and
• summing a plurality of Gaussian distance scores corresponding to the plurality of Gaussian probability distributions to generate a senone score.

A system for acoustic modeling, the system comprising:

• a memory module configured to interface with an external computing device to receive a feature vector;
• and
• a senone scoring unit (SSU) comprising:
• a distance calculator configured to receive a plurality of Gaussian probability distributions from the memory module via a data bus having a width of at least one Gaussian probability distribution and the feature vector from the memory module, the distance calculator comprising:
• a plurality of arithmetic logic units (ALUs), wherein each of the ALUs is configured to receive a portion of the at least one Gaussian probability distribution and to calculate a dimension distance score between a dimension of the feature vector and a corresponding dimension of the at least one Gaussian probability distribution;
• and
• an accumulator configured to sum the dimension distance scores from the plurality of ALUs to generate a Gaussian distance score;
• and
• an addition module configured to sum a plurality of Gaussian distance scores corresponding to the plurality of Gaussian probability distributions to generate a senone score.