System and method for handling processing with sparse weights and outliers

A system, comprising:

• a processing circuit comprising:
• a first multiplier;
• a second multiplier;
• a shared multiplier;
• and
• a first demultiplexer,
• the processing circuit being configured to:
• read a first activation from a first row of an array of activations, the first activation comprising a least significant part and a most significant part, the most significant part being zero;
• multiply a first weight by the first activation to form a first product;
• direct, by the first demultiplexer, the first product to a first adder tree, of a plurality of adder trees;
• read a second activation from a second row of the array of activations, the second activation comprising a least significant part and a most significant part, the most significant part being nonzero;
• and
• multiply a second weight by the second activation,
• the multiplying of the first weight by the first activation comprising multiplying the first weight by the least significant part of the first activation in the first multiplier, the first multiplier being associated with the first row;
• and
• the multiplying of the second weight by the second activation comprising:
• multiplying the second weight by the least significant part of the second activation in the second multiplier, the second multiplier being associated with the second row;
• and
• multiplying the second weight by the most significant part of the second activation in the shared multiplier, the shared multiplier being associated with a plurality of rows of the array of activations, including the first row and the second row.

A system, comprising:

• means for processing comprising:
• a first multiplier;
• a second multiplier;
• a shared multiplier;
• and
• a first demultiplexer,
• the means for processing being configured to:
• read a first activation from a first row of an array of activations, the first activation comprising a least significant part and a most significant part, the most significant part being zero;
• multiply a first weight by the first activation to form a first product;
• direct, by the first demultiplexer, the first product to a first adder tree, of a plurality of adder trees;
• read a second activation from a second row of the array of activations, the second activation comprising a least significant part and a most significant part, the most significant part being nonzero;
• and
• multiply a second weight by the second activation,
• the multiplying of the first weight by the first activation comprising multiplying the first weight by the least significant part of the first activation in the first multiplier, the first multiplier being associated with the first row;
• and
• the multiplying of the second weight by the second activation comprising:
• multiplying the second weight by the least significant part of the second activation in the second multiplier, the second multiplier being associated with the second row;
• and
• multiplying the second weight by the most significant part of the second activation in the shared multiplier, the shared multiplier being associated with a plurality of rows of the array of activations, including the first row and the second row.