Code segment replacement apparatus and real time signal processor using same

A signal processing system comprising:

• a real time processor to execute a plurality of segments of instructions;
• an instruction memory coupled to the real time processor having a plurality of memory locations with respective addresses, to store the plurality of segments of instructions in respective groups of addresses and output a sequence of instructions to the real time processor in response to addresses:
• an instruction address sequencer coupled to the instruction memory operative to provide a sequence of addresses identifying the sequence of instructions in the instruction memory;
• a controller, coupled to real time processor, the instruction memory and the instruction address sequencer, operative, in response to a command, to override execution of a particular segment of instructions stored in a particular group of addresses in the instruction memory without stopping the instruction address sequencer, the particular segment including more than one instruction;
• and
• a host interface coupled to the instruction memory and the controller through which for receiving and writing new instructions to the instruction memory in the particular group of addresses to replace the particular segment of instructions.

An audio processing system comprising:

• an audio signal processor executing a plurality of audio programs, wherein the audio signal processor includes:
• an instruction memory storing instructions of the plurality of audio programs in a set of addressable memory locations;
• a sequencer, coupled to the instruction memory, which accesses the set of addressable memory locations in sequence to provide instructions for execution by the audio signal processor;
• a controller coupled to the memory to override execution of instructions supplied by the sequencer from a particular subset of the set of memory locations in the memory in response to an override command, the particular subset including a plurality of instructions;
• and
• a host processor, coupled to the audio signal processor, including a host memory to store additional audio programs, and operative to supply the override command and to download a replacement audio program from the host memory to the particular subset of the set of memory locations in the instruction memory.