WO2005045692A2 - Data processing device and method - Google Patents

Abstract

A reconfigurable data processing device comprising a multidimensional array of coarse grained logic elements processing data and operating at a first clock rate and communicating with one another via communication lines operated at a second clock rate, wherein the first clock rate is higher than the second and wherein the coarse grained logic elements comprise storage means for storing data needed to be processed.

Description

Data processing device and method The present invention relates to recon igurable computing. In particular, the present invention relates to improvements in the architecture of rβconfigurable devices. Reconfigurable data procesing arrays are known in the art. Reference is being made to the previous applications and/or publications of the present applicant/assignee all of which are encorporated herein by way of reference. Accordingly, the devices described hereinafter may be multidimensional (n>l) arrays comprinsing coarse grained computing and/or data operation elements allowing for runtime reconfiguration of the entire array or parts thereof, preferably in response to a signal indicating reconfigurability to a loading unit (CT, CM or the like) .

Now, several of these data procesing arrays have been built ⁽i.e. Xppl, XPP128, XPP2, XPP64) . It is however desirable to improve the known device further as well as to improve methods of its operation. Accordingly, in order to achieve this object there will be described a number of improvements allowing separately or in commo to improve the performance and /or power consumption and /or cost of the device.

A first way to improve the known devices is to improve the functionability of each single processor element. It has been previously suggested to include a ring-memory (RΪNGSPEICHER) in the array, to store instructions in the ring-memory and to provide a pointer that points to one of the ring-memory adres- ses so as to select an instruction to be carried out next . Furthermore, it has been suggested to provide at least one „ shadow configuration" and to switch over between several configurations /shadow configurations. Anotrher or additional suggestions has been designated as „wave reconfiguration". hile these known methods improve the performance of a recon_¬ figurable device, there seems to be both a need and a possibility for further improvements.

It is to be understood that while in the following description, a detailed example is given, for example with respect to the number of registers given associated with eachj PAE, it is not deemed necessary to provide an ALU with exactly this num_¬ ber of registers. Rather, it will be understood by the average skilled person that deviations from the explicitly described embodiment are easily feasible and that the detailed level of description stems from an effort to provide an exemplary PAE and not from the wish to restrict the scope of invention. - SUBSTITUTESHEET(RULE58) 1 Overview of changes vs . XPP XPP-II

1.1 ALU-PAE Architecture

In the suggested improved architecture, a PAE might e.g. comprise 4 input ports and 4 output ports. Embedded with each PAE is the_FREG -path newly named DF with its dataflow capabilities, like MERGE, SWAP, DEMUX as well as ELUT.

2 input ports RiO and Ril are directly connected to the ALU. Two output ports receive the ALU results. . '

Ri2 and Ri3 are typically fed to the DF path which output is Ro2 and Ro3.

Alternatively Ri2 and Ri3 can serve as inputs for the ALU as well. This extension is needed to provide a suitable amount of ALU inputs if Function Folding (as described later) is used. In this mode Ro2 and Ro3 serve as additional outputs.

Associated to each data register (Ri or Ro) is- an event port (Ei or Eo) .

Tt is possible, albeit not necessary to implement an additional data and event bypass BRiO-l _f BEiO-. The decision depends on how often Function Folding will be used and how many inputs and outputs are required in average.

1.1.1 Other extensions

SIMD operation is implemented, in the ALUs to support 8 and 16 bit wide data words for i.e. graphics and imaging.

Saturation is supported for ADD/SUB/MUL instructions for i.e. voice, video and imaging algorithms.

1.2 Function Folding

1.2.1 Basics and input/output paradigms

Within this chapter the basic operation paradigms of the XPP architecture are repeated for a better understanding based on Petri-Nets. In addition the Petri-Nets will be enhanced for a better understanding of the subsequently described changes of the current XPP architecture.

In most arrays each PAE operates as a data flow node as defined by Perti-Nets. (Some arrays might have parts that have other functions and should thus be not considered as a standard PAE) . A Petri-Net supports a calculation of multiple inputs and produces one single output. Special for a Perti-Net is, that the operation is delayed until all input data is available.

For the XPP technology this means: 1. all necessary data is available 2. all necessary events are available

The quantity of data - and events is defined by the data and control flow, the availability is displayed at runtime by the handshake protocol RDY/ACK.

The thick arbor indicates the operation, the dot on the right side indicates that the- operation is delayed until all inputs are available.

Enhancing the basic methodology function folding supports multiple operations - maybe even sequential - instead of one, defined as a Cycle. It is important that the basics of Petri- Nets remain unchanged.

Typical PAE-like Petri-Nets consume one input packet per one operation. For sequential operation multiple reads of the same input packet are supported. However, the interface model again keeps unchanged.

Data duplication occurs in the output path of the Petri-Net, which does not influence the operation basics again.

1.2.2 Method of Function Folding

One of the most important extensions is the capability to fold multiple PAE functions onto on PAE and execute them in a sequential manner. It is important to understand that the intention is not to support sequential processing or even microcontroller capabilities at all. The intention of Function Folding is just to take multiple dataflow operations and map them on a single PAE, using a register structure instead, of a network between each function.

One goal may be to save silicon area by rising to clock frequency locally in the PAEs. An additional expectation is to save power since the busses operate, at a fraction of the clock frequencies of the PAEs. Data transfers over the busses, which consume_much. power, are reduced.

RoO Ro1 Ro2 PAE Frequency 200MHz Bus Frequency 50MHz XPP V2 Rcunction I/O allocation PAE Frequency 50lv1Hz Register allocation Bus Frequency 50MHz

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3a STEP 3b

The internal registers can be implemented in different ways, e.g. in one of the following two:

1. dataflow model

Each register (r' ) has a valid bit which is set as soon as data has-been written into the register and reset after the data has been read. Data cannot be written if valid is set, data can not be read if valid is not set. This approach implements a 100% compatible dataflow behaviour.

2. sequencer model

The registers have no associated valid bits. The PAE operates as a sequencer, whereas at the edges of the PAE (the bus connects) the paradigm is changed to the XPP-like dataflow behaviour.

Even if at first the dataflow model seems preferable, it has major down sides. One is that a high amount of register is needed to implement each data path and data duplication is quite complicated and not efficient. Another is that sometimes a limited sequential operation simplifies programming and hardware effort.

Therefore it is assumed consecutively that sequencer model is implemented. Since pure dataflow can be folded using, automatic tools the programmer should stay within the dataflow paradigm and not be confused with the additional capabilities. Auto- atic tools must take care i.e. while register allocation that the paradigm is not violated.

The following figure shows that using sequencer model only 2 registers (instead of 4) are required:

RoO Ro1 Ro2 PAE frequency 200MHz Bus frequency 50MHz XPP V2 function I/O allocation PAE frequency 50MHz Register allocation Bus frequency 50MHz

STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3a STEP 3b

For allowing complex function like i.e. address generation as well as algorithms like "IMEC'-like data stream operations the PAE has not only 4 instruction registers implemented but 8, whereas the maximum bus-clock vs. PAE-clock ration is limited to a factor of 4 for usual function folding.

It is expected that the size of the new PAE supporting Function Folding will increase by max. 25%. On the other hand 4 PAEs are reduced to 1.

Assuming that in average not the optimum but only about 3 functions can be folded onto a single PAE a XPP64 could be replaced by a XPP21. Taking the larger PAEs into account the functionality of a XPP64 XPP-IΪ should be executable on a XPP XPP-III with an area of less than half. The function folding method and apparatus as well as otrher further improvements will be described in even more detailed hereinafter.

Equality of internal data registers and bus transfers

The function fold concept realises two different -models of data processing:

a) Sequential model, wherein within the PAE the same rules apply as in von-Neuman- and Harvard-processors. b) PACT VPU-model, wherein data are calculated or operated upon in arbitrary order according to the PETRI-Net-Model (data flow + synchronisation) .

Due to the unpredictability of the arrival of data at the input registers (IR) a deadlock or at a least significant reduction in performance could occur if the commands in RC0...RCn were to be performed in a linear manner. In particular, if feed-backs of the PAE outputs to the inputs of the PAE are present, deadlocks might occur. This can be avoided if the instructions are not to be processed in a given order but rather according to the possibility of their processing, that is, one instruction can be carried, out as soon as all conditions of the VPU-model are fulfilled. Therefore, for example, once all RDY-handshakes of incoming data, ACK-handshakes of outgoing data and, if necessary, triggers (including their handshakes) are valid, then the instruction can be carried out. As the FF PAE has data additionally stored in internal registers, their validity and status has to be checkable as well in a preferred embodiment. Therefor, every internal data register (RDO..-. RDn) is separately assigned a valid bit indicating whether or not valid data are present in the register. When writing data into the register, valid is set, when reading, valid is reset. Data can be read only if "valid" is set and can be written only if "valid" is not set. Accordingly, the valid flag corresponds most closely to the status that is produced in the state machines of bus systems by the transmittal of RDY/ACK- handshakes. It is a preferred embodiment and considered to be inventive to provide a register with a status bit in that way.

It is therefore possible to carry out instructions at the time when all conditions for the execution - again very similar to PETRI-nets are fulfilled.

Basically, there are two methods available for selection of instruction and control of their execution described herein after.

Method A: FF PAE Program Pointer (Finite State Machine & Program Pointer-Approach)

Fig. 1

According to the control principle of sequential processors, a program counter is used to select a certain instruction within the instruction memory. A finite state machine controls the program counter. This finite state machine now checks whether or not all conditions for the instruction in RC (PC) , that is the instruction, onto which the PC (Program Counter) points, are fulfilled. To do so, the respective RDY- and/or ACK- handshakes of the in- and/or outputs needed for the execution of the instructions are checked. Furthermore, the valid-flags of the internal registers to be read (RD0..RDn) are checked so as to control whether or not they are set, and the valid-flags of those internal registers (RD0..RDn) into which is to be written, are checked whether they are not set. -If one of the conditions is not fulfilled, the instructions will not be carried out. PC is controlled to count further, the instruction is. skipped and the next instruction is selected and checked as described.

The advantage of this method is the compatibility with sequential processor models. The disadvantage resides in the necessity to test and to skip instructions. Both of which might result in significant losses of performance under certain circumstances.

Method B: FF PAE Program Pointer (Enabler & Arbiter-Approach)

Fig. 2

This method is based upon the possibility to test all instructions in RcO.. Ren in parallel. In order to save the expense of the complete decoding of array instructions, each RC is assigned an entry in an evaluation mask field, the length of which corresponds to the maximum number of states to be tested; therefore, for every possible RDY- or ACK-trigger- signal (as well the RDY/ACKs of the triggers) as well as for every valid bit in RD0...RDn two bits are available indicating whether or not the respective signal is to be set or not set; or, whether the state of the signal is unimportant for the execution of the instruction.

Example mask

The mask shows only some entries. At In-Trigger, both the state of the trigger (set, not set) as well as the value of the trigger (trigger value) can be tested via RDY-value.

A test logic testing via for example the Line Control described herein after all instructions in parallel. Using an arbiter, an instruction of the set of all executables is selected. The arbiter controls the instruction multiplexer via ISel according to the transferral of the selected instructions to the PAE.

The Line Control has one single line of Boolean test logic for every single instruction. By means of an ExOR-gate (e) the value of the signal to be tested against the setting in em of the line is checked. By means of an OR-gate (4-) respectively, a selection is carried out, whether the checked signal is relevant (don't care) . The results of all checked signals are ANDed. A logic 1 at the output of the AND-gates (&) shows an executable instruction. For every RC, a different test-line exists. All test-lines are evaluated in parallel. An arbiter having one of a number of possible implementations such as a priority arbiter, Round-Robin-Arbiter and so forth, selects one instruction for execution out of all executable instructions. There are further implementations possible obvious to the average skilled person. Those variants might be widely equivalent in the way of operation and function. In particular, the possibility of using "negative logic" is to be mentioned.

Fig.3

The following figure gives an overview of the entire circuitry:

Fig. 4

Advantages of the method are: Significantly fast, in view of the fact that one instruction can be carried out in every single clock Reduced power consumption, since no energy is wasted on disgaxded—cycles which is in particular advantageous to the static power dissipation. Similar hardware expense as in the sequential solution when using small and medium sized configuration memories (RC) therefor similar costs.

Disadvantages : Likely to be significantly more expensive on large RC; therefore, an optimisation is suggested for. a given set of applications. .^' In order to implement the sequencer mode (compare other parts of the application) the program counter having an FSM must be provided for. The FSM then is restricted to the tasks of the sequencer so that the additional expenses and the additional costs are relatively low. Depopulated Busses according to the State of the Art

All busses assigned to a certain PAE are connected to the input registers (IR) or the output registers of the PAE are connected to all busses respectively (compare for example DE 100 50 442.6 or the XPP/VPU-handbooks of the applicant).

It has been realised that PAEs, in particular FF PAEs, allow for a depopulation of bus interconnects, in particular, if more IR/OR will be available compared to the State of the Art of the XPP as previously known. The depopulation, that is the reductions of the possibilities to connect the IR or ER onto the busses can be symmetrically or asymmetrically. The depopulation will typically amount to 20 to 70 %. It is significant that the depopulation will not or not significantly effect the interconnectability and/or the routability of an algorithm in a negative way.

The method of depopulation is particularly relevant in view of the fact that several results can be achieved. The hardware- expense and thus the costs of the bus systems can be reduced significantly; the speed of the busses is increased since the gate delay is reduced by the minimisation of connecting points; simultaneously, the power consumption of the busses is reduced.

A preferred depopulation according to the VPU-architecture according to the State of the Art, however, with more IR/OR is shown in the following figure.

Fig. 5

In particular, reference is being made to an optional extension of the bus architecture allowing for a direct next neighbour data transfer of two adjacent PAEs, in particular two PAEs placed one onto the other. Here, the outputs (OR) of one PAE are directly connected to a dedicated bus which is then directly connected to the inputs (IR) of a neighbouring PAE (compare next figure) . The figure only shows an horizontal next neighbour bus, however, in general, vertical busses are possible as well.

In the figure, the shaded circles stand for possible bus connects: MUX. Double circuits stand for a connection from the bus: DeMUX. Changes of the PAE IO

The following figure shows the State of the Art of a PAE implementation as known from XP.U128, XPP64A and described in DE 100 50 442:6

The known PAE has a main data flow in the direction from top to bottom to the main ALU in the PAE-core. At the left and right side, data channels are placed additionally transmitting data along the main data flow direction, once the same direction as the main data flow (FREG) and once in the reverse direction (BREG) . On both sides of the PAE, data busses are provided that run in the reverse direction of the main data flow of the PAE and onto which the PAE as well as FREG and BREG are connected. The architecture of the State of the Art requires eight data busses for each PAE side as well as four transfer channels for FREG/BREG for typical applications.

Bus=8 FREG, BREG =4

Fig.6

The bus system of the State of the Art has switching elements, register elements (R) , each at the side of the PAEs. The switching elements allow for the disruption of a bus segment or- disconnection to a neighbouring bus, the register elements allow the construction of an efficient pipelining by transferring data through the register, so as to allow for higher transferral band-width. The typical latency in vertical direction for next-neighbour-transmitting is 0 per segment, however is 0,5-1 in horizontal direction per segment and higher frequencies .

Fig.7

Now, a modified PAE structure is suggested, wherein two ALUs, each having a different main data flow direction are provided in each PAE, allowing for significantly improved routability. On one hand, the tools used for routing are better and simpler, on the other hand, a significant reduction in hardware resources is achieved. First tests shows that the number of busses necessary in horizontal direction is reduced by about 25 % over the State of the Art. The vertical connects in FREG/BREG (= BYPASS) can even be reduced by about 50 %. Also, it is no more necessary to distinguish between FREG and BREG as was necessary in DE 100 50 442.6.

Bus = 6 FREG, BREG = 2

Fig. 8

The double-ALU structure has been further developed to an ALU-PAE having inputs and outputs in both directions. Using automatic routers as well as hand-routed applications, further additional significant improvements of the network topology can be shown. The number of busses necessary seems to be reduced to about 50 % over the State of the Art, the number of vertical connects in the FREG/BREG (= BYPASS) can be reduced by about 75 %.

Bus = 4 FREG, BREG = 1

Fig. 9

For this preferred embodiment which can be used for conventional as well as for function fold ALUs, it is possible to place register and switching elements in the busses in the middle of the PAE instead of at the sides thereof (see Fig, below) .

Fig.10

In this way, it is possible even for high frequencies to transmit data in horizontal direction to the respective neighbouring PAE without having to go through a register element. Accordingly, it is possible to set up next neighbour connections in vertical and horizontal directions which are latency free (compare State of the Art and drawings referring to depopulated busses) . The example of the interconnections shown in the respective figure allows transferral having zero latency in- ertical direction and horizontally from left to right. Using an optimisation of PAE interface structure a latency free next neighbouring transmission in both horizontal directions can be achieved. If in every corner of the PAE input register (IR, arrow of bus into PAE) from bus and output register (OR, arrow from PAE to bus) to the bus are implemented, each neighbouring PAE can exchange data without latency (see Fig) .

Fig.11

It is possible to further optimise the above disclosed PAE arrangement. This can be done by using no separate bypass at all in all or some of the PAEs. The perferred embodiment comprises two ALUs, one of these being "complete" and having all necessary functions, for example-multiplication and BarrelShift while the second has a reduced instruction set eliminating functions that require larger arrays such as multiplication and BarrelShift. The second ALU is in a way replacing BYPASS (as drawn) . There are several possible positions for the register in switching elements per bus system, and. two of the preferred positions per bus are shown in Fig. 12 below in dotted lines.

Fig.12

Both ALUs comprise additional circuits to transfer data between the busses so as to implement the function of the bypass. A number of possible ways of implementations exist and two of these shall be explained as an example..

a) Multiplexer

Configurable multiplexers within the ALU are connected so that ALU inputs are bypassing the ALU and are directly connected to their outputs.

b) MOVE instruction

A MOVE instruction, stored in RcO.. Ren is transferring within the respective processing clock of the function fol the data according to the input specified within the instruction to the specified output.

Superscalarity/ Pipelining

It is possible and suggested as first way of improving performance to provide roughly superscalar FF ALU-PAEs which cal- culate for example 2,4,8 operations per bus clock @ FF=2,4,8, even while using the MUL opcode.

The basic concept is to maJe use of the VALID-flags of each internal register. MUL is implemented as one single opcode which is pipelined over two stages.

MUL takes its operands from the input registers Ri and stores the results into internal data registers Rd. VALID is set if ^• data is stored into Rd. ADD (or any other Opcode, such as BSFT) uses the result in Rd if VALID is set; if not the execution is skipped according to the specified VALID behaviour. In addition the timing changes for all OpCodes,^' if the MUL instruction is used inside a PAE configuration. In this case all usually single cycle OpCodes will change to pipelined 2 cycle OpCodes. The change is achieved by inserting a bypass able multiplexer into the data stream as well as into control.

The following program will be explained in detail: MUL (RdO, Rdl), RiO, Ril; ADD RoO, Rdl, Ri2;

In the first bus-cycle after configuration (to) MUL is executed (assuming the availability of data at RiO/1) . The register pair RdO/1 is invalid during the whole bus-cycle, which means during both FF-PAE internal clock cycles. Therefore ADD is not executed in the 2^nd clock cycle. After t₀ the result of MUL is written into the register pair, which VALID flags are set at the same time.

In ti new data is multiplied. Since the VALID is set for RdO/1 now the ADD command is executed in the 2^nd clock cycle, but takes 2 clock cycles for over all execution. Therefore operand read and result write is inline for both operations, MUL as well as ADD.

The result of a MUL-ADD combination is available with 2 clocks latency in a FE=2 ALU-PAE. For FF >= 6 no latency is inserted.

However since multiplication and all other commands are processed in parallel the machine streams afterwards without any additional delays.

If there are OpCodes besides MUL which require 2 clock cycles for execution (e.g. BSTF) the architecture must be modified to allow at least 3 data writes to registers after the second internal clock cycle.

The data path output multiplexer gets 2 times larger as well as the bus system to the output registers (OR) and the feedback path to the internal data registers (Rd) . If accordingly defined for the OpCodes, more than 4 internal registers can be used without increasing the complexity by using enables (en) to select the specific register to write in the data. Multiple registers are connected to the same bus, e.g. RdO, Rd4, Rd8, Rdl2. However not all combinations of register transfers are possible with this structure. If e.g. MUL uses RdO and Rdl the following registers are blocked for the OpCode executed in parallel: Rd4, 5, 8, 9, 12, 13.

Register map:

Datapath architecture:

The Segμencer PAEs

Since there is a need to be able to run control flow dominated applications on the XPP III as well, Sequencer PAEs will be introduced. Such a PAE can be thought of as a very simple kind of processor which is capable to run sequential code within the XPP. This allows the efficient implementation of control flow oriented applications like the H.264 Codec on the array whereas with SEQ-PAEs missing the realization would be more difficult and resource consuming. , '

The SEQ-PAEs are not build from scratch. Instead such a tile will be build up by a closely coupling of a ALU-PAE and neighboring RAM-PAE, which can be seen in Figure 1.

! configurable j Sequencer

Figure 1 : Configurabel Sequencer

Therefore the functionality of the ALU- as well as RAM-PAE has to be enhanced to be .able to fulfill the requirements of such a SQE-PAE. This information will be given next.

ALU-PAE Enhancements

The extended version of the ALU-PAE is^' given in Figure 2. To the right border the registers which are controlling the different modules can be seen. Those registers will be used in normal- as well as in SEQ-mode. Therefore the appropriate control signals from the local configuration manager and the RAM- PAE are first merged by OR-Gates and then are forwarded to the register whereas it has to be ensured that in normal mode the signals from the RAM-PAE are .0 and vice versa.

Further more, since the ALU-PAE marks the execution part of the tiny processor, there is a need to transfer values to and from the internal register directly to the RAM. Therefore a additional multiplexer AMI is inserted in the multiplexer hi- erarch of section 2. In the normal mode this multiplexer feeds the word from its predecessor to the next stage whereas in the SEQ mode an immediate value provided by the Imm. Register will be delivered. In addition in SEQ mode a value of one of the internal registers can be delivered to the RAM-PAE via the output of the multiplexer. However, it has also to be considered to provide a "LOAD reg, imm" since this is not much slower than „ADD reg, reg, imm"

To enable the RAM-PAE to write data to the internal register of the ALU-PAE another multiplexer is inserted in the multiplexer chain of section 4. Similar to the scenario given above this multiplexer will only be activated in SEQ mode whereas in normal mode this multiplexer will just forward the data of its predecessor. In one preferred embodiment, it is suggested to place RS2 be written in )]

Figure 2 : Enhanced Version of the ALU-PAE As it has already been discussed, data can be processed during one or two cycles by the ALU-PAE depending on the selected arithmetic function. Due to the auto synchronization feature of the XPP and due to the fact that in normal mode a successive operation will not start before the previous one is finished, it does not really care if an operation lasts one or two clock cycles. Whereas the tile is working in SEQ mode there is a difference since we assume to have a pipeline character. This means that a one cycle operation could run in parallel with a two cycle module where the operation would be executed in stage two at this time. Due to the limited multiplexing capacities of a word - 16 Bit - only one result could be written to the connected registers whereas the other one would be lost. In general there are three possibilities to solve this problem.

The first one could be that the compiler is capable to handle this problem. This would mean that it has to know about the pipeline structure of the whole SEQ-PAE as well as of a tile in detail. To prohibit a parallel execution the compile would have to add a NOP to every two cycle instruction for the structure given above. However this idea seems not to be convenient due to the strong relation between the hardware structure and the compiler. The drawback would be that every time changes are made to the hardware the compile would most likely have to be trimmed to the new structure.

The second idea could be to recognize such a situation in the decode stage of the pipeline. If a two cycle instruction is directly followed by an instruction accessing a one stage arithmetic unit it has to be delayed by one clock cycle as well.

The last possibility is to make the complete ALU-PAE look like a two stage execution unit. Therefore only one register has to be included in the multiplexer chain of section four right after the crossover from the multiplexer separating the one stage of the two stage modules. Obviously, this is preferred.

Comparing the _. last to ideas the third one seems to be the best one since only one register has to be inserted. If we a closer look to the second solution special logic would be needed for ^' analyzing the disallowed combination of instructions as well as logic for stopping the program counter (PC) and the instruction retardation. It has to be assumed that- this logic would require much more area than the registers as well as the fact that the delay of the logic would possibly increase the critical path.

Since it has to be distinguished between the SEQ and the normal mode where a one cycle execution should still be available. This possibility is given by a multiplexer which allows to bypass the RS2 Register as shown in the corresponding figure. (Figure 2) The BAM-PAE

A short description of the stages

To get the SEQ-PAE working there still has to be provided more functionality. Right now the RAM-PAE will take care of it. As a first approach for realizing the sequencer a four stage pipeline has been chosen. The stages are, as it can be seen in Figure 3:

• The fetch stage • The decode stage • The execution stage 1 • The execution stage 2

In the fetch stage the program counter for the next clock cycle will be calculated. This means that it will be either incremented by 1 via a local adder or one of the program counters from the decode or execution stage 2 will be selected. The program counter of the execution stage thereby provides the address if a call instruction occurred whereas the program counter of- -the execution stage provides the PC if there has been a conditional jump. Right now the branch address can'ei- ther be calculated out of the current PC and a value which either be an immediate value or a value from a internal registers of the ALU-RAM - indirect addressing mode - or an absolute value. This e.g. is necessary if there is return from a subroutine^' to the previous context whereas the according absolute PC will be provided by the stack bank.

In the decode stage the instruction coming from the Gode bank will be decoded. Necessary control signals and, if needed, the immediate, value for the internal execution stage 1 as well as for the execution stage 1 of the ALU-PAE will be generated. The signals include the control information for the multiplexers and gating stages of section two of the ALU-PAE, the operation selection of the ALU's tiles, e.g. signed or unsigned multiplication, and the information whether the stack pointer (SP) should be in/decremented or kept unchanged in the next stage- depending on the fact if the instruction is either a call or jump, in case a call instruction occurred a new PC will be calculated in parallel and delivered to the fetch stage.

Furthermore the read address and read enable signal to the data bank will be generated in case of a load instruction. In the execution stage 1, which by the way is the first stage available on the ALU as well as on the RAM-PAE, the control signals for execution stage 2 of the ALU-PAE are generated. Those...signal will take care that the correct output of one of the arithmetical tiles will be selected and written to the enabled registers. If the instruction should be a conditional jump or return the stack pointer will be modified in this stage. In parallel the actual PC will be saved to the stack bank at the address give by the Rsp EXl register in case of a branch. Otherwise, in case of a return, the read address as well as the read enable .signal will be applied to the stack bank.

In execution stage 2 the value of the PC will be calculated and provided to the multiplexer in the fetch stage in case of a jump. At the time write address arid write enable signal to the data bank are generated if data from the ALU have to be saved. , -

Instead of two adders, it is possible to provide only one in the rpp path.

Figure 3 : Overview of the RAM-PAE Pipeline actions In the following section a short overview of the actions that are taking place in the four stages will be given for some basic instructions. It should ' help to understand the behaviour of the pipeline. Since the instruction which is going to be discussed will be available at the instruction register the actins of the fetch stage will be omitted in this representation. ^■ IR: Instruction Register DR: Data Register DB: Data Bank SBR : Store/Branch Register Instruction: Load value from data bank to R[n]

Instruction: Sore value from R[n] to data bank

1.3 Array S ructure

First advantages over the prior art are obtained by using function folding PAEs. These as well as other PAEs can be improved.

The XPP-II structure of the PAEs consumes much area for FREG and BREG and their associated bus interfaces. I-h addition feed backs through the FREGs require the insertion of registers into the feedback path, which result not only in an increased latency but also in a negative impact onto the throughput and performance of the XPP.

A new PAE structure and arrangement is proposed with the expectation to minimize latency and optimize the bus interconnect structure to achieve an optimized area.

The XPP-III PAE structure does not include BREGs any more. As a replacement the ALUs are alternating flipped horizontally which leads to improved placement and routing capabilities especially for feedback paths i.e. of loops.

Each PAE contains now two ALUs and two BP paths, one from top to bottom. and one flipped from bottom to top.

PAE Structure and PAE Structure and arrangement V2.0 arrangement V2.2

1.4 Bus modi ications

Within this chapter optimizations are described which might reduce the required area and the amount of busses . However, those modifications comprise several proposals, since they have to be evaluated based on real algorithms . It is possible to e. g. compose a questionnaire to collect the necessary input from the application programmes .

1.4.1 Next neighbour In XPP-II architecture a direct horizontal data path between two PAEs block a vertical data bus. This effect increases the required vertical busses within a XPP and drives cost unnecessarily. Therefore in XPP-III a direct feed path between horizontal PAEs is proposed. f

In addition horizontal busses- of different length are proposed, i.e. next neighbour, crossing 2 PAEs, crossing 4 PAEs. •

1.4.2 Removal of registers in busses

In XPP-II registers are implemented in the vertical busses which can be switched on by configuration for longer paths. This registers can furthermore be preloaded by configuration which requires a significant amount of silicon area. It is proposed to not implement registers in the busses any more, but to use an enhanced DF or Bypass (PB) part within the PAEs which is able to reroute a path to the same bus using the DF or BP internal registers instead:

Here, it might be to decide how many resources are saved for the busses and how many are needed for the PAEs and /or how often must registers be inserted, are 1 or max. 2 paths enough per PAE (limit is two since DF/BP offers max. 2 inputs

1.4.3 Shifting n:l, l:n capabilities from busses to PAEs In XPP-II n:l and l:n transitions are supported by the busses which requires a significant amount of resources i.e. for the sample-and-hold stage of the handshake signals.

Depending on the size of n two different capabilities are provided with the new PAE structure: n < 2 The required operations are done within the

DF path of the PAE 2 < n < 4 The ALU path is required since 4 ports are necessary n > 4 Multiple ALUs have to be combined

This method saves a significant amount of static resources in silicon but requires dedicated PAE resources at runtime.

Here, it might be worthwhile to evaluate how much silicon area is saved per bus how often occurs n=2 , 2 ≤ n < 4 , n > 4 the ratio between saved silicon area and required PAE resource and to decide on the exact bus structure in repsonse to one or all of said criteria .

1.5 FSM in RAM-PAEs

In the XPP-II architecture implementing control structures is very costly, a lot of resources are required and programming is quite difficult.

However memories can be used for a simple FSMs implementation. The following enhancement of the RAM-PAEs offers a cheap and easy to program solution for many of the known control issues, including HDTV.

Basically the RAM-PAE is enhanced by an feedback from the data output to the address input through a register (FF) to supply subsequent address within each stage. Furthermore additional address inputs from the PAE array can cause conditional jumps, data output will generate event signals for the PAE array. Associated counters which can be reloaded and stepped by the memory output generate address input for conditional jumps (i.e. end of line, end of frame of a video picture) . A typical—RAM—PAE implementation has about 16-32 data bits but only 8-12 address bits. To optimize the range of input vectors it is therefore suggested to insert some multiplexers at the address inputs to select between multiple vectors, whereas the multiplexers are controlled by some of the output data bits.

One implementation for an XPP having 24bit wide data busses is sketched in the next figure. 4 event inputs are used as input, as well as the lower for bits of input port RiO. 3 counters are implemented, 4 events are generated as well as the lower 10 bits of the RoO port.

The memory organisation suggested here may be as follows: 8 address bits 24 data bits (22 used) 4 next address 8 multiplexer selectors 6 counter control (shared with 4 additional next address) 4 output

It is to be noted that the typical memory mode of the RAM-PAE is not sketched in the block diagram above.

The width of the counters is according to the bus width of the data busses.

For a 16 bit implementation it is suggested to. use the carry signal of the counters as their own reload signal (auto reload) , also some of the multiplexers are not driven by the memory but ^Λhard wired" by the configuration.

The proposed memory organisation is as follows: 8 address bits 16 data bits (16 used) 4 next address 4 multiplexer selectors 3 counter control (shared with 3 additional next address) 4 output

It is to be noted that actually the RAM-PAEs typically will not be scaleable any more since the 16-bit implementation is different from the 24-bit implementation . It is to decide whether the striped down 16-bit implementation is used for 24-bit als

1.6 IOAG interface

1.6.1 Address Generators and bit reversal addressing

Implemented within the 10 interfaces are address generators to support e.g. 1 to 3 dimensional addressing directly without any ALU-PAE resources. The address generation is then done by 3 counters, each of them has e.g. configurable base- address, length and step width.

The first counter (CNT1) has a step input to be controlled by the array of ALU-PAEs. Its carry is connected to the step input of CNT2,. which carry again is connected to the step input of CNT3.

Each counter generates carry if the value is equal to the configured length. Immediately with carry the counter is reset to its configured base address. One input is dedicated for addresses from the array of ALU- PAEs which can be added to the values of the counters. If one or more counters are not used they are configured to be zero. In addition CNT1 supports generation of bit reversal addressing by supplying multiple carry modes.

1.6.2 Support for different word width In general it is necessary to support multiple word width within the PAE array. 8 and 16 bit wide data words are preferred for a lot of algorithms i.e. graphics. In addition to the already described SIMD operation, the IOAG allows the split and merge of such smaller data words. Since the new PAE structure allows 4 input and 4 output ports, the IOAG can support word splitting and merging as follows:

Input ports are. merged within the IOAG for word writes to the 10. For output ports the read word is split according tb the configured word width.

1.7 Multi-Voltage Power Supply and Frequency Stepping PAEs and busses are build to perform depending on the workload. Therefore the clock frequency is configurable according to the data bandwidth, in addition clock gating for registers is supported, busses are decoupled using row of AND gates. Dynamically clock pulses are gated, whenever no data can be processed.

Depending on the clock frequency in the PAEs and the required bandwidth for the busses the voltage is scaled in an advanced architecture. Within the 4S project such methods are evaluated and commercially usable technologies are researched.

1.8 XPP / μP coupling

For a closed coupling of a μP and a XPP a cache and register interface would be the preferable structure for high level tools like C-compilers. However such a close coupling is expected not to be doable in a very first step.

Yet, two different kind of couplings may be possible for a tight coupling: a) memory coupling for large data streams: The most convenient method with the highest performance is a direct cache coupling, whereas an AMBA based memory coupling will be sufficient for the beginning (to be discussed with ATAIR) b) register coupling for small data and irregular MAC operations: Preferable is a direct coupling into the processors registers with an implicit synchronisation in the OF-stage of the processor pipeline. However coupling via load/store- or in/out-commands as external registers is acceptable with the penalty of a higher latency which causes some performance limitation.

2 Specification of ALU-PAE

2.1 Overview

In a preferred embodiment, the ALU-PAE comprises 3 paths: ALU arithmetic, logic and data flow handling BP bypass

Then, each of the paths contains 2 data busses and 1 event bus. The busses of the DF path can be rerouted to the ALU path by configuration.

2.2 ALU path Registers

The. ALU path comprises 12 data registers: RiO-3 Input data register 0-3 from bus RvO-3 Virtual output data register 0-3 to bus Rd0-3 Internal general purpose register 0-3 ViO-3 V event input 0-3 from bus UiO-3 U event input 0-3 from bus EvO-3 Virtual V event output register 0-3 to bus EuO-3 Virtual U event output register 0-3 to bus FuO-3 FvO-3 Internal Flag u and v registers according to the XPP-II PAE's event busses , ^J Ace Accumulator

Eight instruction- registers are implemented, each of them is 24 bit wide according to the opcode format. RcO-7 Instruction registers

Three special purpose registers are implemented: Rlc Loop Counter,, configured by CM, not accessible through ALU-PAE itself. Will be decremented according to JL opcode. Is reloaded after value 0 is reached. Rjb Jump-Back register to define the number of used entries in Rc[0..7]. It is not accessible through ALU-PAE itself. If Rpp is equal to Rjb, Rpp is immediately reset to 0. The jump back can be bound to a condition i.e. an incoming event. If the condition is missing, the jump back will be delayed. Rpp Program pointer

2.3 Data duplication and multiple input reads

Since Function Folding can operate in a purely data stream mode as well as in a sequential mode (see 1.2) it is useful to support Ri reads in dataflow mode (single read only) and sequential mode (multiple read) . The according protocols are described below:

Each input register, Ri can be configured to work in- one of two different modes: \

Dataflow Mode

This is the standard protocol of the XPP-II implementation: A data packet is taken read from the bus if the register is empty, an ACK handshake is generated. If the register is not empty ACK the data is not latched and ACK is not generated.. If the register contains data, it can be read once. Immediately with the read access the register is marked as empty. An empty register cannot be read.

Simplified .the protocol is defined as follows: RDY & empty → full → ACK RDY & full . .. → notACK READ & empty → stall READ & full → read data , ' → empty

Please note: pipeline effects are not taken into account in this description and protocol.

Sequencer Mode

The input interface is according to the bus protocol definition: A data packet is taken read from the bus if the register is empty, an ACK handshake is generated. If the register is not empty ACK the data is not latched and ACK is not generated.

If the register contains data it can be read multiple times during a sequence. A sequence is defined from Rpp = 0 to Rpp = Rjb. During this time no new data can be written into the register. Simultaneously with the reset of Rpp to 0 the register content is cleared an new data is accepted from the bus.

Simplified the protocol is defined as follows: RDY & empty → full → ACK RDY & full → notACK READ & empty stall READ & full read data (Rpp == Rjb) empty

Please note: pipeline effects are not taken into account in this description and protocol.

2.4 Data register and event handling

Data registers are directly addressed, each data register can be individually selected. Three address opcode form is used, r_{t *}- r_sl, r_s0. An virtual output register is selected by adding o' behind the register. The result will be stored in rt and copied to the virtual output register r_v as well according to the rule op out (r_v, r_t ) — r_sl , r_s0.

Please note, accessing input and (virtual) output registers follow the rules defined in chapter 2.3.

Events are used equal to data registers. All input and internal events can be addressed directly, output events are used whenever an ^Λo' is added behind the event.

2.4.1 Accumulator Mode

To achieve low power consumption and for better supporting DSP-like algorithms an accumulator register is available which can be addressed by just one set bit for the result register (ao) and- operand register (ai) .

For commutative operations always operand register 1 is replaced by ai. For non commutative operations as SUBtract operand register 1 selects, whether ai is the first or second operand. Operand register 2 defines the accordingly other operand.

Jt is to be noted that it has to be clarified whether a real Accumula tor mode makes sense or j ust a MAC-command should be implemented to handle the multiply accumulate in a single com^¬ mand consuming two clock cycles with an implicit hidden accumulator access .

2.4.2 Parameter Stack Mode (PSTACK)

Unused entries in the Opcode Registers Re can operate as stack for constants and parameters. At Rpp == 0000 the Rps PStack registers points to Rjb +1, which, means the PStack area starts immediately behind the last entry in the Opcode register file.

To access the PStack, the FF-PAE must be in the Fast-Parameter Mode. Each read access to Ri3 is redirected to read, from the PStack, whereas after each read access the pointer incremented with one.^' There is no check for an overflow of the PStack pointer implemented, an overflow is regarded as a program bug.

Programming Error

2.4.3 n: 1 Transitions n:l transitions are not supported within the busses any more. Alternatively simple writes to multiple output registers Ro and event outputs Eo are supported. The Virtual Output registers (Rv) and Virtual Event (Ev) are translated to real Output registers (Ro) and real Events (Eo) , whereas a virtual register can be mapped to multiple output registers .

To achieve this a configurable translation table is implemented for both data registers and event registers:

Example: -

RvO mapped to RoO, Rol Rvl mapped to Ro2 Rv2 mapped to Ro3 Rv3 unused Rv RoO Rol Ro2 Ro3

2.4.4 Accessing input and output registers (Ri/Rv) and events (Ei/Ev)

Independently from the opcode accessing input or output registers or events is defined as follows:

Readin an in ut register:

Writing- to an output register:

2.4.5 Multi-Config Mode

The Multi-Config Mode allows for selecting 1 out of maximum stored configurations. Incoming events .on Fui0,l and Fvi0,l select one of the 4 configurations. Only one Event shall be active at a clock, cycle.

The selection is done by a simple translation, each event points to a specific memory address.

Long configurations may use more than 3 opcode by using the next code segments as well. In this case, the according events can not be used .

2.5 Opcode format

24 bit wide 3 address opcodes are used in a preferred embodiment : op rt r_b Source registers can be Ri and Rd, target registers are Rv and

Rd. A typical operation targets only Rd registers. If the source register for r_a is Ri[x] the target register will be

Rd[x].

The translation is shown is the following table:

Each operation can target a Virtual Output Register Rv by adding an out tag as a target identifier to the opcode: op (r_t, ro_t) <- r_a, r_b

Data is transferred to the virtual output register and to the according internal register as well:

2.5.1 Conditional Execution

The SKIPE command supports conditional execution. Either an event or ALU flag is tested for a specific value. Depending on the check either the next two addresses are executed (Rpp + 1). or skipped (Rpp + 3) . If an incoming event is checked, the program execution stops until the event is arrived at the event port (RDY handshake set) . ,.,

SKIPE supports conditional execution of any OpCode which is not larger than two memory entries.

In SEQ-PAEs, which support CALL and RET OpCodes, also stack based subroutine calls are supported.

2.6 Clock

The PAE can operate at a configurable clock frequency of lx Bus Clock 2x Bus Clock 4x Bus Clock [8x Bus Clock]

2.7 The DF path

The DataFlow path comprises the data registers Bri0..3 and Bro0..3 as well as the event register Bui/Bvi0..3 and Buo/BvoO ..3.

The main purpose of the DF path is to establish bus connections in the vertical direction. In addition the path includes a 4 stage FIFO for each of the data and event paths.

The DF path supports numerous instructions, whereas the instruction is selected by ^' configuration and only one of them can be performed during a configuration, function folding is not available.

The following instructions are implemented in the DF path: 1. ADD, SUB 2. NOT, AND, OR, XOR 3. SHL, SHR, DSHL, . DSHR, DSHRU 4. EQ, CMP, CMPU 5. MERGE, DEMUX, SWAP 6. SORT, SORTU 7. ELUT

2.9 Parameter Broadcast and Update

Parameters and constants can be updated fast and synchronous using input register Ri3 and event input Ei7.

Depending on the update mode, data packets at the input register Ri3 are copied subsequently into Rd3, Rd2 and Rdl at each access of the according register by the PAE, if the event Ei7 is set. Afterwards all input data at Ri3 is propagated to the output register Ro3, also the Eo7 event output is set, to indicate following PAEs the occurrence of a fast parameter update, which allows to chain PAEs together (i.e. in a multi-TAP FIR filter) and updating all parameters in the chain.

Also the OpCode UPDATE updates all registers subsequently if Ei7 is set, depending on the Update Parameter Mode (upmcfg = nnlO) .

Also the register update can be configured to occur whenever Rpp == 0 and Ei7 is set by upmcfg = nnOl. In both cases nn indicates the number of registers to be updated (1-3) .

Ei7 must be 0 for at least one clock cycle to indicate the end of a running parameter update and the start of a new update.

3 Input Output Address Generators (IOAG)

The IOAGs are located in the RAM-PAEs and share, the same registers to the busses. An IOAG comprises 3 counters with forwarded carries. The values of the counters and an immediate address input from the array are added to generate the address . One counter offers reverse carry capabilities.

3.1 Adressing modes

Several addressing modes are supported by the IOAG to support typical DSP-like addressing: Mode Description Immediate Address generated by the PAE array xD counting Multidimensional addressing using IOAG internal counters xD means ID, 2D, 3D xD circular Multidimensional addressing using IOAG internal counters, after overflow counters reload with base address xD plus immedixD plus a value from the PAE array ate Stack decrement after "push" operations increment after "read" operations Reverse carry Reverse carry for applications such as FFT

3.1.1 Immediate Addressing

The address is generated in the array and directly fed through the adder to the address output. All counters are. disabled and set to 0.

3.1.2 xD counting

Counters are enabled depending on the required dimension (x- di ensions require x counters) . For each counter a base address- and the step width as well as the maximum address are configured. Each carry is forwarded to the next higher and enabled counter; after carry the counter is reloaded with the start address.

A carry at the highest enabled counter generates an event, counting stops.

3.1.3 xD circular

The operation is exactly the same as for xD counting, with the difference that a carry at the highest enabled counter generates an event, all counters are reloaded to their base address and continue counting.

3.1.4 Stack

One counter (CNTl) is used to decrement after data writes and increment after data reads. The base value of the counter can either be configured (base address) or loaded by the PAE array.

3.1.5 Reverse carry

Typically carry is forwarded from LSB to MSB. Forwarding the carry to the opposite direction (reverse carry) allows generating address patterns which are very well suited for applications like FFT and the like. The carry is discarded at MSB.

For using reverse carry a value larger than LSB mUst be added to the actual value to count, wherefore the STEP register is used.

Example : BASE = Oh STEP = 1000b

The counter is implemented to allow reverse carry at least for STEP values of -2, -1, +1, +2.

4. ALU/RAM Sequencers - SEQ-PAEs

Each ALU-PAE at the left or right edge of the array can be closely coupled to the neighbouring RAM-PAEs as an IP option, thus allowing for configure a sequencer. For compatibility reasons, the data and opcode width of the sequencer is lβbits.

! configurable ALU-PAE j Sequencer

The ALU-PAEs can operate exactly as array internal ALU-PAEs but have several extensions. Operation is Sequencer mode the register file is 8 data registers wide, Fu and Fv flags are used as carry, sign, null, overflow, and parity ALU flag word.

The address width is accordingly lβbit. However since the RAM- PAE size is limited it is segmented into 16 segments. Those segments are used for code, data and stack and must be individually preloaded by the compiler.

4 segment registers point to the specific segments: CodeBank Points to the actual code segment DataBank Points to the actual data segment StackBank Points to the actual stack segment AuxiliaryBank Points to any segment (but code) , allowing copy operations between segments

The compiler has to take care that necessary data segments are preloaded and available. For cost reasons there is no automatic. TLB installed.

Also segments have to be physically direct addressed due to the absence of TLBs. This means that the compiler has to implement range checking functions for according addresses.

Code segments behave accordingly to data segments. The compiler has to preload them before execution jumps into them. Also jumps are physically direct addressed, due to the absence of TLBs again.

A relocation of any segments is not possible, the mapping is fixed by the compiler.

The memory layout is shown below. A simple check mechanism is implemented to validate or invalidate memory segments. segment address

validate invalidate

reset: CB = 0000 SB= 1111

At least the CodeBank (CB) and StackBank (SB) must be set. The first CodeBank must start at location OOOOh. For all other banks OOOOh is an illegal entry. Loading segments to the memory validates them, accordingly flushing invalidates them.

Memory banks are updates in terms of loaded or flushed in the background by a DMA engine controlled by the following opcodes LOADDSEG Loads and validates a data/auxiliary/stack bank ; STOREDSEG Stores and invalidates a data/auxiliary/stack bank LOADCSEG Loads and validates a code bank The address generators in the IOAG interfaces can be reused as DMA engine.

Memory banks can be specifically validated or invalidated as follows: VALIDATESSEG Validates a bank INVALIDATESEG Invalidates a bank

The bank pointers are added to the address of any memory access. Since the address pointer can be larger than the 6 bits addressing a 64 line range, segment -boarders are not "sharp", which means, can be crossed without any limitation. However the programmer or compiler has to take care that no damage occurs while crossing them. If an invalid segment is reached a flag or trap is generated indicating the fault, eventually just wait states are inserted if a segment preload is running already in the background.

Alternatively a more advanced valid checking scheme can be implemented as shown below: segment

validate invalidate

reset: CB = 0000 SB = 1111 In difference to PAEs which require 24-bit instructions sequencers use 16-bit instructions only. To use the same instruction set and to keep the decoders simple, just the last 8 bits are discarded in sequencer mode.

4.1 IOAGs

IOAGs may comprise a 4-8 stage data output buffer to balance external latency and allow reading the same data address directly after the data has been written, regardless of external bus or memory latencies (up to the number of buffer stages) .

In the follwoing, a number of OpCodes and their meanings is suggested:

ADD

ADD

Description: Add rsl and rs2

Action: Input II =

Input 12 =

Output .0

Event output Eo

II, 12 -> 0

Rpp++ rs: source register rt: target register et4: target event Input Regist :ers :

Ri / Rd

Output Regissters:

Rd / Ro Input Flags :

F, Ei

Out ut Flags:

ADDC

ADD with Carry

Description:

Add rsl and rs2 with Carry.

Action: Input II =

Input 12 =

Event Input E=

Output 0

Event output Eo

II, 12 -> 0 Rpp++ rs: source register rt: target register es4: source event etp: target event pair

Input Registers:

Ri / Rd

Output Registers:

Rd / Ro Input Flags: F, Ei

AND

Logical AND Description:

Logical AND operation

Action: Input II

Input- 12 =

Output 0 =

Event output Eo =

II, 12 -> 0

Rpp++ rs: source register rt: target register

Input Registers:

Ri / Rd

Output Registers:

Rd / Ro

Input Flags :

Out ut Flags:

BSHL

Barrel SHif Left

Description: ;

Shift rsl left by rs2 positions and fill with zeros,

Action:

Input II =

Input 12

Output 0 = -

II, 12 -> 0

RPP++ rs : source register rtp: target register pair

Input Registers: Ri / Rd

Output Registers: Rd / Ro

Input Flags ;

Output Flags :

BSHR

Barrel SHi t Right

Description:

Shift rsl right by rs2 positions, sign bit is duplicated.

Action: Input II =

Input 12 =

Output 0 = [rtp

II, 12 -> 0

Rpp++ rs : source register rtp : target register pair

Input Registers : Ri / Rd

Output Registers : Rd / Ro

Input Flags :

Output Flags :

BSHRU

Barrel SHift Right Unsigned

Description:

Shift rsl right by rs2 positions and fill with zeros,

Action: Input II

Input 12 =

II, 12 -> 0 Rpp++ rs: source register rtp: target register pair

Input Registers : Ri / Rd

Output Registers Rd / Ro

Input Flags :

Output Flags :

CLZ

Count Leading Zeros

Description:

Count the amount of leading zeros if the number is positive, accordingly, count the amount of leading ones if the number is negative.

Action:

Event output Eo =

11 -> 0

Rpp++ rs: source register rt: target register etp : target event pair

Input Registers:

Ri / Rd

Output Registers :

Rd / Ro

Input Flags :

Out ut Fla s :

CLZU

Count Leading Zeros Unsigned

Description:

Count the amount of leading zeros of an unsigned number,

Action:

Input II =

Output 0 =

Event output Eo =

II -> 0 Rpp++ rs: source register rt: target register et4: target event Input Registers: Ri / Rd

Output Registers : Rd / Ro

Input Flags :

CMP

CoMPare

Description: Compare two values

Action : Input II =

Input 12 -

Event output Eo =

Rpp++ rs: source register etp: target event pair

Input Registers : Ri / Rd

Output Registers: Input Flags :

CMPU

CoMPare Unsigned

Description:

Compare two unsigned values

Action: Input II

Input 12

Event output Eo

Rpp+H- rs: source register etp: target event pair

Input Registers: Ri / Rd

Output Registers:

Input Flags : Output Flags : Mode SEQ sign, zero FF sign, zero -> F / Eo-

DEMUX FF

DEMUltipleX data stream

Description:

Moves input to- one of two outputs, depending on flag.

Action: Input I =

Output 01 =

Output 02 =

Event E=

Rpp++ rt: target register rs: source register es4: source event

Input Registers Ri / Rd

Output Registe ;rs :

Rd / Ro, Rd / Ro

Input Flags:

Ei / F

Output Flags :

DIV SEQ

Divide

Description:

Divide rsl by rs2. Result in rtp, reminder in rtp+1,

Action: Input II =

Input 12 =

Output 0 =

II, 12 -> 0. Rpp++ rs: source register rtp: target register pair

Input Registers:

Ri / Rd

Output Registers :

Rd / Ro Input Flags: Output Flags :

DIVU SEQ

Divide Unsigned

Description:

Divide unsigned rsl by rs2. Result in rtp, reminder in rtp+1,

Action: Input II

Input 12 =

Output 0

II, 12 -> 0 Rpp++ rs: source register rtp: target register pair

Input Registers: Ri / Rd

Output Registers: Rd / Ro Input Flags:

Output Flags : DSHL

Double SHi t Left

Description':

Shift rsl and rs2 left. LSB is filled with event

Action: In ut II

Input 12 =

Event Input E=

Event output Eo =

II, 12 -> 0 Rpp++ rs: source register rtp: target register pair etp: target event pair Input Registers: Ri / Rd Output Registers: Rd / Ro Input Flags : F, Ei

Output Flags:

DSHR

Double SHi t Right

Description:

Shift rsl and rs2 right, sign bit is duplicated.

Action: Input II =

Input 12

Event output Eo =

II, 12 -> 0

Rpp++ rs: source register rtp: target register pair etp: target event pair Input Registers:

Ri / Rd

Output Registers:

Rd / Ro

Input Flags :

Ei , F

Output Flags:

DSHRU

Double SHi t Right Unsigned

Description:

Shift rsl and rs2 right and fill with event,

Action: Input II

Input 12

Event Input E=

Event output Eo =

II , 12 -> 0

Rpp++ rs: source register rtp: target register pair etp: target event pair

Input Registers:

Ri / Rd

Output Registers :

Rd / Ro

Input Flags :

Ei, F

Output Flags:

EQ

EQual

Description:

Check whether two values are equal,

Action: Input II =

Input 12

Event output Eo et4

RPP++ rs: source register et4: target event

Input Registers:

Ri / Rd

Output Registers:

Input Flags :

Output Flags : Mode SEQ zero FF zero -> F / Eo

JMP SEQ

JuMP immediate

Description:

Jump to address defined by immediate constant. CodeBank is changed according to constant.

Action: const [0..3] -> CodeBank const [4..15] -> Rpp

Input Registers:

Output Registers:

Input Flags:

Output Flags:

JRI SEQ Jump Relative Immediate

Description:

Jump relative to Rpp according to immediate signed constant.

CodeBank is not influenced.

Action:

Rpp + const -> Rpp Input Registers:

Output Registers:

Input Flags :

Output Flags :

JRR SEQ

Jump Relative Register

Description:

Jump relative to Rpp according to signed content of register.

CodeBank is not influenced.

Action:

Rpp + Rd[rbs] -> Rpp Input Registers:

Output Registers:

Input Flags :

Output Flags :

LOAD

LOAD data register with constant

Description: Loads internal data register or output register with an immediate constant

Action:

Rpp++ rt: target register

Input Registers:

Output Registers Rd /Ro

Input Flags :

Output Flags :

MERGE FF

MERGE data streams

Description:

Moves one of two inputs to output, depending on flag.

Action: Input II =

Input 12

Output 0 = rt Onn Rd[nn] Inn Ro [nn] Event E=

Rpp++ rt: target register rs: source register es: source event

Input Registers: Ri / Rd, Ri / Rd

Output Registers: Rd / Ro Input Flags : Ei / F

Output Flags

MOVE

MOVE internal data register

Description:

Moves content of a register bank register to another internal register.

Action: Rd[rbs] -> rd[rbt] Rpp++ rbs: register bank source rbt: register bank target

Input Registers: Rd Output Registers: Rd Input Flags :

Output Flags:

MOVEE

MOVE flag register Description:

Moves content of a flag register to another flag register.

Action: F[fs] -> F[ft] Rpp++ fs: flag source ft: flag target

Input Registers:

Output Registers:

Input Flags : F

Output Flags F

MUL

MULtiply Description: Multiply rsl and rs2

Action: Input II =

Input 12 =

Out ut 0 =

II, 12 -> 0 Rpp++ rs: source register rtp: target register pair

Input Registers: Ri / Rd

Output Registers Rd / Ro

Input Flags:

Output Flags:

MULU

MULtiply Unsigned Description:

Multiply unsigned rsl and rs2.

Action: Input I1

Input 12 =

II, 12 -> 0

Rpp++ rs : source register rtp: target register pair

Input Registers: Ri / Rd

Output Registers: Rd / Ro

Input Flags :

Output Flags :

NOP

No Operation

Description:

No Operation, Rpp is incremented

Action:

Rpp++

Input Registers:

Output Registers:

Input Flags :

Output Flags :

NOT

Logical inverse Description: Inverts register logically

Action :

I -> 0

Rpp++ rs : .source register rt : target register

Input Registers:

Ri / Rd

Output Registers:

Rd / Ro

Input Flags :

Output Flags :

OR

Logical OR

Description:

Logical OR operation

Action: Input II =

Input 12 =

II , 12 -> 0 Rpp++ rs : source register rt: target register

Input Registers:

Ri / Rd

Output Registers:

Rd / Ro

Input Flags:

READ

READ data input register

Description:

Read specified data input register and write to internal register bank or output register. READ waits until data is available at the input register.

Action:

Rpp++ rt: target register ri: input register

Input Registers: Ri

Output Registers: Rd / Ro

Input Flags :

Output Flags :

READE

READ event input register

Description:

Read specified event input register and write to internal flag bank or event output register. READE waits until event is available at the input register.

Action:

Rpp++ et4: target event ei: input event

Input Registers:

Output Registers:

Input Flags Ei

Output Flags F / Eo

SAT SATurate

Description:

Saturates register depending on carry (FuO) flag and satura- tion mode..

Action:

Event E=

Rpp++ rs: source register rt: target register as: add/substract mode es4: event source

Input Registers: Rd

Output Registers Rd / Ro es4lnput ■ Flags: SEQ-Mode : carry FF-Mode: Ei/F Output Flags :

SETF

SET Flag with constant

Description:

Loads flag register or output event with an immediate constant

Action:

Rpp++ et4 event target

Input Registers:

Output Registers :

Input Flags:

Output Flags :

F /Eo

SHL

SHif Le t

Description:

Shift rsl left. LSB is filled. with event,

Action: Input II

Event Input E es4 iO =

II -> 0

Rpp++ rs: source register rt: target register pair et4: target event pair es4: source event register

Input Registers:

Ri / Rd

Output Registers:

Rd / Ro

Input Flags :

F, Ei

Output Flags : Mode SEQ MSB (rsl) -> carry FF MSB (rsl) -> Fu / Euo

SHR

SHift Right

Description:

Shift rsl right. MSB is filled with event,

Action: Input II

O

II -> 0 Rpp++ rs : source register rt: target register pair et4: target event pair es4: source event register

Input Registers:

Ri / Rd

Output Registers:

Rd / Ro

Input Flags:

F, Ei

Output Flags: Mode SEQ LSB (rsl) -> carry FF LSB (rsl) -> Fu / Euo

SKIPE

SKIP next two commands depending on Event

Description:

Next two commands are skipped based on event or flag. If an event is selected as source the execution stops until the event is available.

Action:

Event E=

Skip next two addresses if event or flag is equal to val:

val: value es4: event source

Input Registers:

Output Registers:

Input Flags: Ei / F

Output Flags

SORT FF

SORT data stream

Description:

Sort two inputs, depending on value,

Action: Input II =

Output 01 =

01 = smaller value of II and 12 02. = larger value of II and 12

El = 1 if II < 12 else 0 E2 = 1 if II <= 12 else 0

Rpp++ rt: target register rs : source register et4 : ^■ target event

Input Registers: Ri / Rd, Ri / Rd

Output Registers : Rd / Ro, Rd / Ro

Input Flags :

Output Flags : Ei / F SORTU FF

SORT data stream Unsigned

Description:

Sort two unsigned inputs, depending on value,

Action:

In ut II =

Input 12 =

Output 01 =

Output 02 =

Event El=

Event E2=

01 = smaller value of II and- 12

02 = larger value of II and 12

El = 1 if II < 12 else 0 E2 = 1 if II <= 12 else 0

Rpp++ rt: target register rs: source register et4 :. target event Input Registers: Ri / Rd, Ri / Rd

Output Registers: Rd / Ro, Rd / Ro

Input Flags :

Output Flags : Ei / F

SUB

SUBtract

Description:

Subtract rs2 from rsl,

Action: Input II

Input 12

Output Q

Event output Eo =

II, 12 -> 0

Rpp-t-t- rs: source register rt: target register et4: target event Input Registers:

Ri / Rd

Output Registers:

Rd / Ro Input Flags : F, Ei

Output Flags: Mode SEQ carry, sign, null, parity FF carry -> Fu / Euo

ADDC

ADD with Carry

Description:

Subtract rs2 from rsl with Carry.

Action: Input II =

Input 12 =

Event Input E=

Output 0 =

Event output Eo =

Evo [nn]

II, 12 -> 0 Rpp++ rs: source register rt: target register es4: source event etp: target event pair

Input Registers:

Ri / Rd

Output Registers:

Rd / Ro

Input Flags :

F, Ei

Output Flags Mode SEQ carry, sign, null, parity, over flow FF carry -> Fu / Euo, overflow -> Fv / Evo

SWAP FF

SWAP data stream

Description:

Swap two inputs, depending on flag.

Action: Input II =

Input 12 =

Output 01

Output 02 =

Rpp++ rt: target register rs: source register es4: source event

Input Registers: Ri / Rd, Ri / Rd Output Regiε ters : Rd / Ro, Rd / Ro Input Flags : Ei / F Output Flags

UPDATE FF

UPDATE parameters Description: Updates registers Rd3, Rd2, Rdl with value from Ri3_;iif Ei7 is set. Moves subsequent data packet on Ri3 to Ro3 and sets Eo7. Action:

Ri3 -> Ro3

Rpp++ mode: update mode

Input Registers:

Ri3

Output Registers:

Rd3, Rd2, Rdl Input Flags:

Ei7

Output Flags:

Eo7

WAITE

WAIT for incoming Event Description: Stop execution and wait for incoming event of defined value,

Acknowledge incoming events.

Action:

Event E=- es3 nnn Ei [nnn ] Wait for incoming event of defined value. Acknowledge all incoming events . valx: value es3: event source Rpp++ Input Registers :

Output Registers: Input Flags : Ei

Output Flags :

WRITE

WRITE output register Description:

Write data from input register or internal register bank to output register. Wait for incoming ACK either before or after writing.

Action:

<syncO>

<syncl> Rpp++ ro: output register rs: _.register source Synchronisation is handled according to sy: sy = 0 Wait only if previously sent event has not been <sync0 granted by ACK yet > sy = 1 Wait until actual event is granted by ACK <syncl >

Input Registers: Ri / Rd Output Registers: Ro Input Flags:

Output Flags : WRITEE

WRITE Event- output register

Description:

Write event from input register or flag to event output register. Wait for incoming ACK either before or after writing.

Action:

<syncO>

<syncl> Rpp++ eo : output event es4: event source

Synchronisation is handled according to sy: sy = 0 Wait only if previously sent event has not been <sync0 granted by ACK yet > sy = 1 Wait until actual event is granted by ACK <syncl >

Input Registers:

Output Registers:

Input Flags: Ei / F

Output Flags : Eo

XOR

Logical XOR Description:

Logical XOR operation Action :

II , 12 -> 0 Rpp++ rs: source register rt: target register

Input Registers:

Ri / Rd

Output Registers:

Rd / Ro

Input Flags :

Output Flags :

Appendix B

In the following, an exaple for the use of function folding is given:

Function Folding and Fast Parameter Update Example FIR

RiO = x Ril = y 3-folded FIR using ace

Fast parameter update for registers Rdl, Rd2, Rd3 example 1: UPM3, updates parameters with each access to Rd3,2,l (if Ei7 is set) upmcfg = 1100

# stage 1 mul ace, RiO, Rd3; add RdO, ace, Ril;

# stage 2 mul ace, RiO, Rd2; add RdO, ace, RdO;

# stage 3 mul ace, RiO, Rdl; add Rol, ace, Rd3; write RoO, RiO;

Alternative using MAC opcode, parameter pop and looping read RdO, Ril; lh,lt[3]: mac RdO, RiO, pop; write Rol, RdO; write RoO, RiO;

example 2 : UPM3, uses command UPDATE for parameter update upmcfg = 1110

# stage 1 mul ace, RiO, Rd3; add RdO, ace, Ril;

# stage 2 mul ace, RiO, Rd2; add RdO, ace, RdO;

# stage 3 mul ace, RiO, Rdl; add Rol, ace, Rd3; write RoO, RiO; update 3

example 3 : UPM3 , updates parameters at Rpp = 0 upmcfg = 1101

# stage 1 mul ace, RiO, Rd3; add RdO, ace, Ril;

# stage 2 mul ace, RiO, Rd2; add RdO, ace, RdO;

# stage 3 mul ace, RiO, Rdl; add Rol, ace, Rd3; write RoO, RiO;

In the above> an improved data processor array has been described. Although only in some instances, it has been pointed out that reference to a certain number of registers, bit width etc. is for explanation only, it is to be understood that this also holds where such reference is not found.

If the array is to be very large or in case a real time process is run where two different fragments of an array unknown at compile time have to communicate with each other so as to enable data processing, it is advantageous to improve the performance by ensuring that a communication path can be set up. Several suggestions have been made already, e.g. Lee- Routing and/or the method described in PACT 7. It is to be understood that the following part of an improved array design might result in an improved circuitry for certain applications but that it is not deemed absolutely and inevitably necessary to implement it with e.g. a function fold PAE. Rather, the other suggestions for improvement will result in significant improvements on their own as will be understood by the average skilled person. ^;"

ROUTING IMPROVEMENT

The suggested improvement described hereinafter concerns the static routing network for reconfigurable array architectures. Hereby this static network is enhanced by implementing additional logic to adaptive runtime routing. Figure 1 depicts a cut-out of a reconfigurable array with a set of functional units (FU) . Each functional unit encloses one routing unit (RU) and additional functional modules (FMs) . The enclosed functional modules are used to manipulate data and characterize the type of the FU. The RU contains an interconnect matrix which' is able to route each input port to any desirable output ports. All FUs are connected through point-to-point links whereas each is composed of two half-duplex links and able to transport the data in both directions at the same time.

The routing technique described in this document is instruction based which means that each routing process must be started by an instruction. If the user wants to establish a routing between two cells, he has to bring a specific instruction into the source cell. The hardware within the array calculates based on the instruction fields values the desired routing direction and establishes the logic stream. The routing process happens stepwise from one functional unit to another whereby each cell decides which direction should be taken next. On the way to an established route we defined three valuable states of the routing resources. The first state is the physical route or link. This means that the resources of this route are not used and available to routing processes. The second state is named temporal route or link. This state describes the temporarily not available link, which means that this link is in use for routing purposes but the mentioned routing is not confirmed yet . The problem here is that this route can be confirmed in the future or released if the successor cells are able to realise the desired routing. The last state is the logical route or link. This state represents an established route on the array which is able to transport calculation data.

This routing technique uses coordinates on the array to calculation routings. Each FU possesses unique coordinate's und on the basis of this information it is able to determine the routing direction to each desired cell within the array. This concept is the basis for the adaptive runtime routing described in this document. The needed control logic for adaptive routing is implemented within the routing unit, especially within the routing controller which controls the interconnect matrix at runtime. Therefore the routing controller is able to analyze the incoming data of all input ports of the concerned FU and come to a decision what to do next.

Routing Establishment

For the purpose of incoming data analyzing and data buffering each input port owns so called in-registers (InReg) . Additional to those standard registers there are InReg-controllers implemented (InRegCtrl) . Those finite state machines (FSMs) have the job to store the actual state of the input links and in dependency of the actual state to trigger routing requests or release not required routings. To fulfil its job each InRegCtrl is connected to an in-controller (InCtrl) which is implemented exactly once per FU. Important requirement for requesting of new routings is that the mentioned input resource (InReg, InRegCtrl) are not used and so in the state of physical link.

InCtrl gets requests of all InRegCtrls all over the time and forwards one request after another to the routing controller (RoutCtrl) . ;The selection which InRegCtrl should be served first is dependant on the routing priority of the input link and/or which input link was served last. Based on the coordinate information of the target cell and the coordinates of the actual FU the RoutCtrl calculates the forward direction for the requested input link. Thereby the RoutCtrl takes into account additional parameters like optimum bit (will be described later) , the network utilisation towards the desired direction, etc.

If the direction calculation within the RoutCtrl was successful the RoutCtrl forwards the request with additional information about the output port to the interconnect matrix, which connects the input port with calculated output port. If this is done the RoutCtrl signals the successful. routing operation to InCtrl. Because the actual reached routing state is not final it is necessary to store the actual state. This happens within the queue-request-registerfile (QueueRRF) . Therefore the InCtrl is directly connected to the QueueRRF and is able to store the desired information. At this point the related input and output links reach the temporal link state and are temporarily not available for other routing processes. Due the fact that the QueueRRF is able to store more than one routing entry, the InCtrl is able to hold multiple routing processes at the same time. But for the purpose of high hardware area consumption the direction calculation is realized once within the RoutCtrl.

The established temporal routing stays stored within the QueueRRF till the point the successor cell acknowledges the routing. In this case the InCtrl clear the according entry in the QueueRRF and signals the ' successful routing to the InCtrl . The InRegCtrl changes into the state logical route and signal the predecessor cell the successfully finished routing process. The other case can happen if the successor cell is not able to establish the desired route. In this case the InCtrl forwards a new request to the RoutCtrl based on the QueueRRF-entry. This request leads to new routing suggestion which will be stored within the QueueRRF.

If all available and expedient directions are checked and routing trials failed the InCtrl signals to InRegCtrl the failed routing. The InCtrl signals the same routing miss to the predecessor cell and finishes the routing process in the current cell.

Within the routing process there are two exceptions how the routing unit establishes a desired routing. Those exceptions affect the source and the target cell. The exception in both cases is that as well the source cell as the target cell do not need to route the started/ending routing through the interconnect matrix. To connect the FMs to the output links of cells simple multiplexers are used. Those multiplexers are implemented after the interconnect matrix and have to be switched explicitly. This happens after the routing process is finished. The exception lies in the finishing state. Here the InRegCtrl doesn't have to acknowledge the successful routing the predecessor it just has to consume the actual routing instruction in the InReg instead. This happens after the InCtrl signals the successful routing. Additionally the InReg switches the output multiplexer associated to the output port of the FM and finishes the routing establishment. The information needed the switch the right output multiplexer gets the InCtrl from the RoutCtrl.

Otherwise if the routing fails the InCtrl asserts cell specific interrupt line and signals-the failure to the system.

The second exception concerns the target routing cell. Here it is important to connect the new route with the input ports of the local FM. Therefore simple multiplexers are used which are implemented before the interconnect matrix. If an ongoing routing process reaches the target cell the InCtrl identifies the target achievement and switches the associated input multiplexer to forward the incoming data to the input port of the FM. This is the point where_t the successful route establishment signal is generated by the InRegCtrl after InCtrl signals the success. Here the InRegCtrl has the last job to finish the routing process by deleting the routing instruction and going to logical state.

Releasing Established Routing

For releasing of the logically established routings we introduced special instructions, so called end packets. The only purpose of those instructions is the route-dissolving by inject the necessary end packet into the logic established routing. There are two ways how the routings can be released. The first possibility is the global releasing. This means that all routes which are following the route where the end packet is injected will be released. This function is useful to delete whole configurations with one single instruction. For this purpose it is important that the FMs are able to forward the end packet unaltered through the internal datapaths. The second way for route releasing is the local route releasing. Here it is possible to release single established routes between output and input ports of FMs. The end packets are not propagated through the FMs. In this case the end packet will be consumed by the last InRegCtrl .

The internal RU communication is similar to the routing process. If the InRegCtrl determines incoming end packet and the InRegCtrl is in the logic route state, the InRegCtrl forwards the route release request to the InCtrl. The InCtrl clears the entries either within the interconnect matrix or within the input multiplexers registers or within the output multiplexer registers. Meanwhile the InRegCtrl consumes (in case of the local end packet and last cell in the chain) the instruction and goes to the idle state. If the end packet was a global instruction the InRegCtrl forwards alway the end packet to the successor. , '

Additional Features

For the purpose of priority control, we introduced a priority system to influence the order in which the RU serves the incoming routing requests. Therefore the instructions contain priority fields which describe the priority level. Higher values in this field result in higher priority und will be preferred by the RU during the runtime routing. The priority field has direct influence on the selection of the incoming routing requests from the InRegCtrls to InCtrl.

Some inner configuration communication streams require strictly defined latency to reach the desired performance. Therefore it is very important to keep the maximum register chain length. To decrease the latency of the routed streams its is necessary to ensure that the array chose always the best routing between source and target, but this requirement may lead to not routable streams if this feature will be always required. To ease this problem we introduced a special bit within the routing instruction, so called optimum bit (OptBit) . This bit has to be activated if the optimum routing is definitely required. In this case the array tries to reach this requirement und delivers anι interrupt if fails.

The alternative to reach the required latency is the speed path counter. This counter gives the possibility to bypass a specific number of registers before buffering again. Therefore we defined a reference value and the counter value. Both numbers are stored within the instruction field. Each passed cell respective the RU compares the counter value and the reference- value. If both values are equal then the actual cell buffers the stream and resets the counter. If the counter is smaller than the reference value the current buffer will be bypassed and the counter incremented by one. In this way it is possible to bypass a number of buffers which equals exactly to reference value.

Multi-grained Communication Links

In addition to the coarse-grained point-to-point links we introduced more flexible multi-grained point-to-point links. Hereby one single point-to- point link connects two neighbor cells respective the RUs within those cells. One coarse-grained link consists of a set of wires, e.g. 32 wires for one 32 link, and additionally protocol signals. The whole vector is handled by a single set of control signals which makes this communication resource not usable for multi-grained communication.

To reach this requirement we divided the whole 32 bit vector into single strips, e.g. with groups of 8 times 1 bit strips and 3 times 8 bit strips. Each strip obtained separate control signals and is able to operate independently from other strips .

The idea behind this division is to combine those strips to logical multi- grained sub-links. If you have one multi-grained link you can use the whole vector as one interrelated 32 bit vector or split the whole vector into sub-channels. In this configuration each strip can be one single subchannel or a group of strips can be gathered to a single sub-channel of desired bit-width. You just have - in respect of hardware costs - to consider that one sub-channel has to fit into one multi-grained link. Multi-grained Routing In order to route multi-grained channels it's necessary to use the coarse grained links to support the routing process. The idea is to route two links in parallel, one coarse-grained link to support multi-grained routing and one multi-grained link, which will contain the final multi-grained stream. Therefore we defined a two packet routing instruction with needed data fields . The first instruction packet contains - compared to coarsegrained routing instruction - additional bit mask to specify used multi- grained sub-links and multi-grained link ID to identify the associated multi-grained link. The other features like described above - optimum bit, speed path, priority routing - are support in this routing mode as well. The routing process within the RU is performed similar^" to the coarsegrained routing. The first packet which arrives in a cell is analyzed by the InRegCtrl and a request is generated and forwarded to the InCtrl. InCtrl forwards the request to the RoutCtrl and wait for the acknowledgement. If RoutCtrl finds one possible routing direction, the InCtrl gets the successful acknowledgement and the temporal routing will be established by the RoutCtrl. Next, the actual job will be stored within the QueueRRP and the InCtrl waits for the acknowledgement from the successor cell. If RoutCtrl is not able to find a possible routing, the InCtrl gets negative acknowledgement and which will be forwarded to the associated InRegCtrl, which generates the route unable signal to the predecessor cell and quits the routing process within this cell. If the successor cell signals successful routing, the InRegCtrl clears the related entry in the QueueRRP and finishes the routing. If the successor cell is not able to establish a rout to the destination cell, it generates negative acknowledgement signal. Hereupon, the InCtlr starts new request to the RoutCtrl and handle the responses as described above. The difference between the coarse-grained routing and multi-grained routing lies in the handling of the multi-grained interconnect matrix. Each strip of a multi-grained link is handled separately. The RoutCtrl forwards the switch request to the strip matcher. Strip matcher has the job to analyze the input strips and to match them to the output link according to already used strips. What strip matcher is doing is to map the problem of strip matching into the time domain and switches the needed switchboxes for each strip separately one after another.

Routing packet for coarse-grained streams:

Value Comments e-grained results in led; 0 disabled source cell destination yes, 0 = no

: x-coordinate a: X...X Destination cell coordinates: y-coordinate

Routing Instruction for multi-grained streams (first packet):

Value Commen s ons-packet ng-instruction multi-grained first packet) level: higher value results in iority h: Reference value h: Counter it (OptBit) : 1 enabled; 0 disabled input stream of the multi-grained ips mask: 1 = selected; 0 = not seips mask: 1 = selected; 0 = not seon cell coordinates: x-coordinate

on cell coordinates : y-coordinate Second packet of the routing instruction for multi-grained streams:

Value Comments 1 Instructions-packet 10 ID: Routing-instruction multi-grained streams (first packet) X Reserved XXX Destination cell 8 bit strips mask: 1 se- lected; 0 = not selected X...X Destination cell 1 bit strips mask: 1 = se- lected; 0 = not selected XXX Multi-grained FM input port address of the destination cell XXX Source cell 8 bit strips mask: 1 = selected; 0 = not selected X..X Source cell 1 bit strips mask: 1 = selected; 0 = not selected XXX Multi-grained FM output port address of the

source cell

End packet instruction:

Value Commen t releasing coarse: 1 = loe cell selected; selected; ss of the

Data packet:

Value Comments 0 Data packet

X. . . X Application data

Figures relating to improved way of routing :

freier Strip mit 1- bzw. 8-Bit Granularitat 4-Bit breite logische Verbindung 10-Bit breite logische Verbindung 1-Bit breite logische Verbindung freier Strip rrit 1- bzw. 8-Bit Granularitat

(free strip of 1 or 8 bit granularity 4- Bit wide logic interconnection 10- Bit wide logic interconnection free strip of 1 or 8 bit granularity) FGR-BUS

1- bzw. 8-Bit Strips des FGR-Busses bit strip of FGR-Busses

new incoming mgr stream, in dir 1, mgr-link 1 already routed strips, in dir 2, mgr-link 1

new incoming mgr stream, in dir 1, mgr-link 1 already routed strips, in dir 2, mgr-link 1 fteeavaila lestrips

new incoming mgr stream, in dir 1, mgr-link 1 already routed strips, in dir 2, mgr-link 1

Figures

freier Strip mit 1- bzw. 8-Bit Granularitat 4-Bit breite logische Verbindung ► 10-Bit breite logische Verbindung 1-Bit breite logische Verbindung freier Strip mit 1- bzw. 8-Bit Granularitat

Claims

Claims

1. A data processing device comprising a multidimensional array of coarse grained logic elements (PAEs) processing data . and operating at a first clock rate and communicating with one another and/or other elements via busses and/or communication lines operated at a second clock rate, wherein the first clock rate is higher than the second and wherein the coarse grained logic elements comprise storage means for storing data needed to be processed.

2. A data processing device according to claim 1 wherein the data processing of the array is controlled in a data-flowlike manner.

3. A data processing device according to claim 2, wherein the data storage means is adapted for storage of operands and/or intermediate results and wherein a valid bit is provided for each entry.

4. A data processing device according to a previous claim wherein data processing of a coarse grained logic element of the array is adapted to be effected in response to all^' valid bits of data and/or triggers needed being valid.

5. A processing array in particular according to a previous claim having a main data flow direction, said processing array having coarse grained logic elements and said coarse grained logic elements being adapted to effect data processing while allowing data to flow in said in one direction, in particular ALUs having an upstream input side and a data downstream outrput side wherein at least some of said coarse grained logic elements have data processing means such as second ALUs allowing data flow in a reverse direction.

6. A processing array according to the previous claim wherein a the instruction set for the ALUs in one direction is different from the instruction set of the ALUs in-'the reverse direction.

7 .A processing array according to tone of the two previous claims wherein at least one coarse grained logic element comprises an ALU in one direction and an ALU in the reverse direction.

8. A processing device wherein the coarse grained element is connected to the busses and rows of coarse grained elements are provided interconnected via busses, wherein at least one input is connected to an upper row and at least one input is connected to a row below the cell and/or where this holds for an output connect.

9. A processing device according to the previous claim wherein the coarse grained element is connected to the busses and at least two input/output bus connects are provided in one row and wherein a switch in the bus structure and/or a gate or buffer or multiplexe is provided in the segment between inpunt and/or output.

10. A method of routing a processing array adapted to automatically connect separated fragments of a configuration and /or configurations and to rip up nonconnectable traces in a stepwise manner.