Data-driven integrated circuit architecture

• US 8,456,191 B2
• Filed: 08/23/2011
• Issued: 06/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Element Six Limited
• Original Assignee: Element Six Limited
• Inventors: Kelem, Steven Hennick, Box, Brian A., Rudosky, John M., Wasson, Stephen L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tan, Vibol
• Application Number:
  US13/216,193
• Publication Number:
  US 20120126851A1
• Time in Patent Office: 651 Days
• Field of Search: 326 9- 10, 326 14- 15, 326 38- 41
• US Class Current: 326/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1423 by reconfiguration of paths
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1428 with loss of hardware functionality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/7867 with reconfigurable architecture
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3897 with adaptable data path
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 19/007 Fail-safe circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 19/173 using elementary logic circuits as components
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 19/17756 for partial configuration or partial reconfiguration

Abstract

The exemplary embodiments provide a reconfigurable integrated circuit architecture comprising: a configurable circuit element configurable for a plurality of data operations, each data operation corresponding to a context of a plurality of contexts; a plurality of input queues; a plurality of output queues; one or more configuration and control registers to store, for each context of the plurality of contexts, a plurality of configuration bits, a run status bit, and a plurality of bits designating at least one data input queue and at least one data output queue; and an element controller coupled to the configurable circuit element and to the one or more configuration and control registers, the element controller to allow loading of a context configuration and execution of a data operation upon the arrival of input data in the context-designated data input queue when the context run status is enabled and the context-designated data output queue has a status to accept output data.

Claims

1. An integrated circuit, comprising:

a configurable circuit element configurable for a plurality of data operations, each data operation corresponding to a context of a plurality of contexts;

a plurality of input queues;

a plurality of output queues;

one or more configuration and control registers to store, for each context of the plurality of contexts, a plurality of configuration bits, a run status bit, and a plurality of bits designating at least one data input queue and at least one data output queue; and

an element controller coupled to the configurable circuit element and to the one or more configuration and control registers, the element controller to allow loading of a context configuration and execution of a data operation upon the arrival of input data in the context-designated data input queue when the context run status is enabled and the context-designated data output queue has a status to accept output data.

2. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the one or more configuration and control registers further store, for each context of the plurality of contexts, a plurality of execution context chaining bits designating a lead context and a next context, and wherein the element controller further to sequence execution of a plurality of data operations in an order determined by the plurality of execution context chaining bits.

3. The integrated circuit of claim 1, further comprising:

an input controller coupled to the context-designated input queue;

wherein when the context-designated data input queue does not have a status to accept data for the selected context, the input controller is to issue a data deny signal to a source of the input data.

4. The integrated circuit of claim 3, further comprising:

an output controller coupled to the context-designated output queue;

wherein when the output controller receives a data deny signal following a first data broadcast, the output controller at a later time to direct a second data broadcast and issue a data retry signal.

5. The integrated circuit of claim 1, further comprising:

a second circuit coupled to the configuration and control register, the second circuit to enable the run status for each context of the plurality of contexts.

6. The integrated circuit of claim 5, wherein the second circuit is a message manager circuit.

7. The integrated circuit of claim 5, wherein the second circuit is a sequential processor.

8. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the element controller further is to not allow the data operation to execute unless a condition has been met or unless a state ready status has been enabled.

9. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the element controller further is to configure the configurable circuit element for the plurality of data operations using the plurality of configuration bits stored in the one or more configuration and control registers.

10. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the one or more configuration and control registers further store, for each context of the plurality of contexts, a designated data source address and a data source context.

11. The integrated circuit of claim 10, further comprising:

an input controller;

wherein the input controller is to compare a received data source address and source context with the context-designated data source address and data source context and, when the received data source address and data source context match the context-designated data source address and data source context, to allow input of data into the context-designated input queue.

12. The integrated circuit of claim 10, further comprising:

an input controller; and

a full interconnect bus comprising a plurality of data lines and a plurality of control lines, the plurality of control lines coupled to the input controller and the plurality of data lines coupled to the plurality of input queues;

wherein the input controller is to compare a data source address and source context broadcast on the plurality of control lines of the full interconnect bus with the context-designated data source address and data source context and, when the broadcast data source address and data source context match the context-designated data source address and data source context, to allow input of data into the context-designated input queue.

13. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the element controller further is to select a context-designated output of a plurality of outputs of a plurality of configurable circuit elements.

14. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the element controller further is to provide for the configurable circuit element to execute the data operation using input data as a constant.

15. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the element controller further is to provide for the configurable circuit element to execute the data operation only once until a control signal is received.

16. The integrated circuit of claim 15, wherein the element controller further is to generate an interrupt signal.

17. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the one or more configuration and control registers further store, for each context of the plurality of contexts, a plurality of output context chaining bits designating a lead output context and a next output context, and further comprising:

an output controller, the output controller to sequence broadcast of output data in an order determined by the plurality of output context chaining bits.

18. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the one or more configuration and control registers further store, for a first context of the plurality of contexts, a plurality of output mapping bits designating that a data output broadcast is to be identified as a second, different context.

19. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the one or more configuration and control registers further store, for each context of the plurality of contexts, a plurality of bits designating a merger of input queue contexts.

20. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the one or more configuration and control registers further store, for each context of the plurality of contexts, a plurality of bits designating a depth of the context-designated input queue.

21. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the element controller further is to arbitrate among a plurality of data operations, or among a corresponding plurality of contexts, which are ready for execution, wherein the arbitration is at least one of the following arbitration methods:

a round-robin, a priority, a most recently executed, a least recently executed, a scheduled execution, or a concurrent execution.

22. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the element controller further is to provide for conditional data output based upon a result of the data operation.

23. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the element controller is comprised of combinatorial logic gates.

24. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the element controller is comprised of combinatorial logic gates and a finite state machine.

25. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the element controller further is to provide for non-consumption of input data for the data operation.

26. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein when the configurable circuit element is a memory circuit element, the element controller further is to provide for a plurality of substantially concurrent memory read and memory write data operations.

27. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein when the configurable circuit element is a memory circuit element, the element controller further is to provide for a plurality of substantially concurrent read operations from the plurality of data inputs or a plurality of substantially concurrent write operations to the plurality of data outputs.

28. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein when the configurable circuit element is a memory circuit element, the element controller further is to allow execution of a memory read or write operation without a context-designated data input queue and without a context-designated data output queue.

29. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein element controller further is to determine whether a selected data input is a context-designated data input and determine whether a selected data output is a context-designated data output based upon an occurrence of a condition or based upon a result of a selected data operation.

30. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the element controller further is to switch from a first context and allow loading of a second context configuration and execution of a second context data operation upon the arrival of input data in the data input queue designated for the second context.

31. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the element controller further is to allow loading of the context configuration and execution of a data operation only upon the arrival of input data in all of the context-designated data input queues when the context run status is enabled and all of the context-designated data output queues have a status to accept output data.

32. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the element controller further is to allow loading of the context configuration and an initial execution of a data operation and, when input data has not arrived in the context-designated data input queue, further is to halt a completion of the data operation.

33. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the element controller further is to allow a partial execution of a data operation and storage of interim results in a memory.

34. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the element controller further is to not allow loading of the context configuration and execution of a data operation when the context run status is set to suspend, or set to halt, or set to free.

35. An integrated circuit, comprising:

a configurable circuit element configurable for a plurality of data operations, each data operation corresponding to a context of a plurality of contexts;

a plurality of input queues;

a plurality of output queues;

at least one configuration and control register to store, for each context of the plurality of contexts, a plurality of configuration bits, a run status bit, a plurality of bits designating a data source address and a data source context, and a plurality of bits designating at least one data input queue and at least one data output queue;

an input controller to allow input of data into the context-designated input queue when a received data source address and data source context match the context-designated data source address and data source context; and

an element controller coupled to the configurable circuit element and to the at least one configuration and control register, the element controller to allow loading of a context configuration and execution of a data operation upon the arrival of input data in the context-designated data input queue when the context run status is enabled and the context-designated data output has a status to accept output data.

36. The integrated circuit of claim 35, further comprising:

an input controller coupled to the context-designated input queue;

wherein when the context-designated data input queue does not have a status to accept data for the selected context, the input controller is to issue a data deny signal to a source of the input data.

37. The integrated circuit of claim 36, further comprising:

an output controller coupled to the context-designated output queue;

wherein when the output controller receives a data deny signal following a first data broadcast, the output controller at a later time to direct a second data broadcast and issue a data retry signal.

38. The integrated circuit of claim 35, further comprising:

a second circuit coupled to the at least one configuration and control register, the second circuit to enable the run status for each context of the plurality of contexts.

39. The integrated circuit of claim 35, further comprising:

an input controller;

a full interconnect bus comprising a plurality of data lines and a plurality of control lines, the plurality of control lines coupled to the input controller and the plurality of data lines coupled to the plurality of input queues;

wherein the input controller is to compare a data source address and source context broadcast on the plurality of control lines of the full interconnect bus with the context-designated data source address and data source context and, when the broadcast data source address and data source context match the context-designated data source address and data source context, to allow input of data into the context-designated input queue.

40. The integrated circuit of claim 35, wherein the element controller further is to select a context-designated output of a plurality of outputs of a plurality of configurable circuit elements.

41. The integrated circuit of claim 35, wherein element controller further is to determine whether a selected data input is a context-designated data input and determine whether a selected data output is a context-designated data output based upon an occurrence of a condition or based upon a result of a selected data operation.

42. An integrated circuit, comprising:

a configurable circuit element configurable for a plurality of data operations, each data operation corresponding to a context of a plurality of contexts;

a plurality of input queues;

a plurality of output queues;

at least one configuration and control register to store, for each context of the plurality of contexts, a plurality of configuration bits, a run status bit, and a plurality of bits designating at least one data input queue and at least one data output queue;

an input controller coupled to the plurality of input queues, the input controller is to issue a data deny signal to a source of the input data when the context-designated data input queue does not have a status to accept data for the selected context;

an output controller coupled to the plurality of output queues, and when the output controller receives a data deny signal following a first data broadcast, the output controller to direct a second data broadcast and issue a data retry signal at a later time; and

an element controller coupled to the configurable circuit element and to the at least one configuration and control register, the element controller to allow loading of a context configuration and execution of a data operation upon the arrival of input data in the context-designated data input queue when the context run status is enabled and the context-designated data output has a status to accept output data.

43. The integrated circuit of claim 42, wherein the at least one configuration and control register further stores, for each context of the plurality of contexts, a designated data source address and a data source context.

44. The integrated circuit of claim 43, wherein the input controller is to compare a received data source address and source context with the context-designated data source address and data source context and, when the received data source address and data source context match the context-designated data source address and data source context, to allow input of data into the context-designated input queue.

45. The integrated circuit of claim 43, further comprising:

a full interconnect bus comprising a plurality of data lines and a plurality of control lines, the plurality of control lines coupled to the input controller and the plurality of data lines coupled to the plurality of input queues;

wherein the input controller is to compare a data source address and source context broadcast on the plurality of control lines of the full interconnect bus with the context-designated data source address and data source context and, when the broadcast data source address and data source context match the context-designated data source address and data source context, to allow input of data into the context-designated input queue.

46. The integrated circuit of claim 42, wherein the element controller further is to switch from a first context and allow loading of a second context configuration and execution of a second context data operation upon the arrival of input data in the data input queue designated for the second context.

47. An integrated circuit, comprising:

a configurable circuit element configurable for a plurality of data operations, each data operation corresponding to a context of a plurality of contexts;

a plurality of input queues;

a plurality of output queues;

at least one configuration and control register to store, for each context of the plurality of contexts, a plurality of configuration bits, a run status bit, and a plurality of bits designating at least one data input queue and at least one data output queue;

an element controller coupled to the configurable circuit element and to the at least one configuration and control register, the element controller to allow loading of a context configuration and partial or conditional execution of a data operation upon the arrival of input data in the context-designated data input queue when the context run status is enabled and the context-designated data output queue has a status to accept output data.

48. The integrated circuit of claim 47, further comprising:

an input controller coupled to the context-designated input queue;

wherein when the context-designated data input queue does not have a status to accept data for the selected context, the input controller is to issue a data deny signal to a source of the input data.

49. The integrated circuit of claim 48, further comprising:

an output controller coupled to the context-designated output queue;

wherein when the output controller receives a data deny signal following a first data broadcast, the output controller at a later time to direct a second data broadcast and issue a data retry signal.

50. The integrated circuit of claim 47, wherein the at least one configuration and control register further stores, for each context of the plurality of contexts, a designated data source address and a data source context.

51. The integrated circuit of claim 50, further comprising:

an input controller;

wherein the input controller is to compare a received data source address and source context with the context-designated data source address and data source context and, when the received data source address and data source context match the context-designated data source address and data source context, to allow input of data into the context-designated input queue.