SCALABLE NEURAL NETWORK PROCESSING ENGINE
First Claim
1. A neural processor circuit, comprising:
- a plurality of neural engine circuits that are selectively activated, each of the neural engine circuits configured to perform convolution operations on input data and kernel coefficients to generate output data;
a data buffer between the plurality of neural engine circuits and a memory external to the neural processor circuit, the data buffer configured to store the input data from the memory for sending to the neural engine circuits and the output data received from the neural engine circuits; and
a kernel extract circuit configured to receive kernel data from the memory external to the neural processor circuit, the kernel extract circuit configured to send a corresponding kernel coefficient extracted from the kernel data to neural engine circuits selected for activation.
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Abstract
Embodiments relate to a neural processor circuit with scalable architecture for instantiating one or more neural networks. The neural processor circuit includes a data buffer coupled to a memory external to the neural processor circuit, and a plurality of neural engine circuits. To execute tasks that instantiate the neural networks, each neural engine circuit generates output data using input data and kernel coefficients. A neural processor circuit may include multiple neural engine circuits that are selectively activated or deactivated according to configuration data of the tasks. Furthermore, an electronic device may include multiple neural processor circuits that are selectively activated or deactivated to execute the tasks.
17 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A neural processor circuit, comprising:
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a plurality of neural engine circuits that are selectively activated, each of the neural engine circuits configured to perform convolution operations on input data and kernel coefficients to generate output data; a data buffer between the plurality of neural engine circuits and a memory external to the neural processor circuit, the data buffer configured to store the input data from the memory for sending to the neural engine circuits and the output data received from the neural engine circuits; and a kernel extract circuit configured to receive kernel data from the memory external to the neural processor circuit, the kernel extract circuit configured to send a corresponding kernel coefficient extracted from the kernel data to neural engine circuits selected for activation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for processing input data, comprising:
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selectively activating a plurality of neural engine circuits of a neural processor circuit, each of the neural engine circuits configured to perform convolution operations on input data and kernel coefficients to generate output data; storing the input data in a data buffer of the neural engine circuit for sending to the neural engine circuits and the output data received from the neural engine circuits; and sending a corresponding kernel coefficient extracted from kernel data to neural engine circuits selected for activation. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. An integrated circuit (IC) system comprising a neural processor circuit, the neural processor circuit comprising:
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a plurality of neural engine circuits that are selectively activated, each of the neural engine circuits configured to perform convolution operations on input data and kernel coefficients to generate output data; a data buffer between the plurality of neural engine circuits and a memory external to the neural processor circuit, the data buffer configured to store the input data from the memory for sending to the neural engine circuits and the output data received from the neural engine circuits; and a kernel extract circuit configured to receive kernel data from the memory external to the neural processor circuit, the kernel extract circuit configured to send a corresponding kernel coefficient extracted from the kernel data to neural engine circuits selected for activation. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification