Reconfigurable VLIW processor
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorTimothy John Lindquist
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed is a computer processor (300) comprising a plurality of processing units (FU_n) and communication means (302) by which the plurality of processing units are interconnected. The communication means is dynamically configurable based on a computer program to be processed such that the processing units can selectively be arranged in at least first and second distinct configurations. The first distinct configuration (eg. FIG. 5) has a larger number of the processing units arranged in parallel than the second distinct configuration (eg. FIG. 6), and the second distinct configuration has a deeper pipeline depth than the first distinct configuration.
Claims16
A computer processor, comprising:
- a plurality of processing units;
- and
- communication means including a common bus to which each of the plurality of processing units are interconnected for communication of packetized information over said common bus,
- said communication means being dynamically configurable based on a processing of a computer program to thereby selectively arrange communication paths for said packetized information between the processing units in at least first and second distinct configurations, the first distinct configuration having a larger number of the processing units arranged in parallel than the second distinct configuration, and the second distinct configuration having a deeper pipeline depth than the first distinct configuration,
- wherein subject data to be processed by the computer processor includes image data, the first configuration being used for executing a first type of image processes having no necessity for feed-forward of data calculations whilst the second configuration is used for executing a second type of image processes having a necessity for feed-forward of data calculations.
A method of data processing using a computer processor having a plurality of processing units interconnected by a common bus forming at least part of communication means by which packetized information is communicated between said processing units, said method comprising the step of:
- dynamically configuring said communication means according to a processing of a computer program to thereby selectively arrange communication paths for said packetized information between said processing units in a plurality of configurations having a different number of said processing units arranged in parallel and a different number of said processing units arranged in pipelined layers,
- wherein subject data to be processed by the computer processor includes image data, and a configuration used for executing a first type of image processes having no necessity for feed-forward of data calculations has a larger number of said processing units arranged in parallel and a smaller number of pipelined layers than a configuration used for executing a second type of image processes having a necessity for feed-forward of data calculations.
A computer processor comprising:
- a plurality of processing units;
- and
- communication means by which the plurality of processing units are interconnected,
- said communication means being dynamically configurable based on a processing of a computer program to thereby selectively arrange communication paths between the processing units in at least first and second distinct configurations, the first distinct configuration having a larger number of the processing units arranged in parallel than the second distinct configuration, and the second distinct configuration having a deeper pipeline depth than the first distinct configuration, wherein subject data to be processed by the computer processor includes image data, the first configuration being used for executing a first type of image processes having no necessity for feed-forward of data calculations whilst the second configuration is used for executing a second type of image processes having a necessity for feed-forward of data calculations.
A method of data processing using a computer processor having a plurality of processing units interconnected by communication means, said method comprising the step of:
- dynamically configuring said communication means according to a processing of a computer program to selectively arrange communication paths between said processing units in a plurality of configurations having a different number of said processing units arranged in parallel and a different number of said processing units arranged in pipelined layers, wherein the subject data to be processed by the computer processor includes image data, and a configuration used for executing a first type of image processes having no necessity for feed-forward of data calculations has a larger number of said processing units arranged in parallel and a smaller number of pipelined layers than a configuration used for executing a second type of image processes having a necessity for feed-forward of data calculations.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.