Broadcasting mode of planar engine for neural processor

A method for operating a neural processor, the method comprising:

• transmitting first input data to at least one of a plurality of neural engine circuits of the neural processor;
• performing, using the at least one of the plurality of neural engine circuits, a convolution operation of the first input data with one or more kernels to generate a first output;
• transmitting second input data to a planar engine circuit of the neural processor, the planar engine circuit coupled to the plurality of neural engine circuits, the second input data corresponding to the first output or a version of the first input data of the neural processor;
• performing a broadcasting operation on a version of the second input data to generate a processed second input data by at least duplicating a first value of the second input data across a first dimension;
• and
• performing an elementwise operation on the processed second input data to generate a second output.

An electronic device, comprising:

• a memory storing a machine learning model;
• and
• a neural processor, comprising:
• a plurality of neural engine circuits, at least one of the neural engine circuits configured to perform a convolution operation of first input data with one or more kernels to generate a first output;
• and
• a planar engine circuit coupled to the plurality of neural engine circuits, the planar engine circuit configured to:
• receive second input data corresponding to the first output or a version of the first input data of the neural processor,
• perform a broadcasting operation on a version of the second input data to generate a processed second input data by at least duplicating a first value of the second input data across a first dimension, and
• perform an elementwise operation on the processed second input data to generate a second output.