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Central processing unit including APX and DSP cores and including selectable APX and DSP execution modes

  • US 6,085,314 A
  • Filed: 11/14/1997
  • Issued: 07/04/2000
  • Est. Priority Date: 03/18/1996
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A central processing unit which performs general purpose processing functions and digital signal processing (DSP) functions, comprising:

  • an instruction memory for storing a plurality of instructions, wherein said instruction memory stores one or more sequences of instructions which are intended to perform a DSP function;

    a processor mode memory for storing one or more processor mode bits, wherein said one or more processor mode bits indicate whether a sequence of instructions implements a DSP function;

    a function preprocessor coupled to the instruction memory and coupled to the processor mode memory, wherein the function preprocessor is operable to examine said one or more processor mode bits in said processor mode memory to determine whether a sequence of said instructions in said instruction memory is intended to perform a digital signal processing function, wherein the function preprocessor is operable to convert said sequence of said instructions in said instruction memory into a DSP function identifier if said one or more processor mode bits in said processor mode memory indicate that said sequence of said instructions in said instruction memory is intended to perform a DSP function;

    at least one general purpose processing core coupled to the function preprocessor for executing instructions in said instruction memory, wherein the function preprocessor provides a sequence of instructions to said at least one general purpose processing core if said one or more processor mode bits indicate that said sequence of said instructions in said instruction memory is not intended to perform a DSP function;

    at least one digital signal processing core coupled to the function preprocessor for performing digital signal processing functions, wherein the function preprocessor is operable to provide said digital signal processing function identifier to said at least one digital signal processing core, wherein the at least one digital signal processing core receives said digital signal processing function identifier and performs a digital signal processing function in response to said received digital signal processing function identifier from said function preprocessor.

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