Adaptive integrated circuitry with heterogeneous and reconfigurable matrices of diverse and adaptive computational units having fixed, application specific computational elements
First Claim
1. An adaptive computing engine, comprising:
- a configurable logic unit comprising a first plurality of heterogeneous computational elements and a first interconnection network coupling the first plurality of heterogeneous computational elements to each other, the first plurality of heterogeneous computational elements comprising a first type of heterogeneous computational element for performing a first operation and a second type of heterogeneous computational element for performing a second, operation, wherein the second operation is different from the first operation;
a configurable processing unit comprising a second plurality of heterogeneous computational elements at least two of which perform an arithmetic operation dedicated to digital signal processing and each having components in a fixed architecture with fixed connections between the components, the configurable processing unit configurable to perform a digital signal processing function; and
wherein the configurable logic unit is configurable to perform a function via changing interconnections of the first interconnection network between the first plurality of heterogeneous computational elements.
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Abstract
The present invention concerns a new category of integrated circuitry and a new methodology for adaptive or reconfigurable computing. The preferred IC embodiment includes a plurality of heterogeneous computational elements coupled to an interconnection network. The plurality of heterogeneous computational elements include corresponding computational elements having fixed and differing architectures, such as fixed architectures for different functions such as memory, addition, multiplication, complex multiplication, subtraction, configuration, reconfiguration, control, input, output, and field programmability. In response to configuration information, the interconnection network is operative in real-time to configure and reconfigure the plurality of heterogeneous computational elements for a plurality of different functional modes, including linear algorithmic operations, non-linear algorithmic operations, finite state machine operations, memory operations, and bit-level manipulations. The various fixed architectures are selected to comparatively minimize power consumption and increase performance of the adaptive computing integrated circuit, particularly suitable for mobile, hand-held or other battery-powered computing applications.
534 Citations
42 Claims
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1. An adaptive computing engine, comprising:
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a configurable logic unit comprising a first plurality of heterogeneous computational elements and a first interconnection network coupling the first plurality of heterogeneous computational elements to each other, the first plurality of heterogeneous computational elements comprising a first type of heterogeneous computational element for performing a first operation and a second type of heterogeneous computational element for performing a second, operation, wherein the second operation is different from the first operation; a configurable processing unit comprising a second plurality of heterogeneous computational elements at least two of which perform an arithmetic operation dedicated to digital signal processing and each having components in a fixed architecture with fixed connections between the components, the configurable processing unit configurable to perform a digital signal processing function; and wherein the configurable logic unit is configurable to perform a function via changing interconnections of the first interconnection network between the first plurality of heterogeneous computational elements. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An adaptive computing engine, comprising:
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a configurable processing unit comprising a first interconnection network, and a plurality of heterogeneous computational elements, at least two of which perform an arithmetic function, and, the plurality of heterogeneous computational elements comprising a multiplier computational element and an adder computational element, and each having components in a fixed architecture with fixed connections between the components, the first interconnection network coupled to the heterogeneous computational elements; and wherein the configurable processing unit is configurable to perform a signal processing function via switching interconnections of the first interconnection network between the plurality of heterogeneous computational elements. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. An adaptive computing engine, comprising:
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a configurable processing unit comprising a first interconnection network, a first type of heterogeneous computational element and a second type of heterogeneous computational element, the first and second types of heterogeneous computational elements coupled to the first interconnection network, the first and second type of heterogeneous computational elements each for performing an arithmetic function and each having components in a fixed architecture with fixed connections between the components; and wherein the configurable processing unit is configured to perform a first function by bypassing at least one of the first type of heterogeneous computational elements and connecting at least one of the second type of heterogeneous computational elements via the first interconnection network and is configured to perform a different function by connecting at least one of each of the first and second types of heterogeneous computational elements via the first interconnection network. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A configurable computational unit comprising:
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a plurality of adder computational elements, each having components with fixed connections therebetween; a plurality of multiplier computational elements, each having components with fixed connections therebetween; an arithmetic logical computational element having components with fixed connections therebetween; and an interconnection network coupling the plurality of adder computational elements, the plurality of multiplier computational elements and the arithmetic logical computational element to each other, wherein the configurable computational unit is configurable to perform a function via switching interconnections of the interconnection network among the plurality of adder computational elements, the plurality of multiplier computational elements and the arithmetic logical computational element. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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Specification