Patent ID: 6032247
Filing Date: 2000-02-29
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
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 general purpose instructions and one or more sequences of DSP instructions;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 comprises general purpose instructions or DSP instructions;a preprocessor coupled to the instruction memory and coupled to the processor mode memory, wherein the 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 comprises general purpose instructions or DSP instructions;at least one general purpose processing core coupled to the preprocessor for executing instructions in said instruction memory, wherein the preprocessor provides a sequence of instructions to said at least one general purpose processing core for execution if said one or more processor mode bits indicate that said sequence of instructions comprises general purpose instructions;at least one digital signal processing core coupled to the preprocessor for performing digital signal processing functions, wherein the preprocessor provides a sequence of instructions to said at least one digital signal processing core for execution if said one or more processor mode bits indicate that said sequence of instructions comprises DSP instructions.