Patent ID: 6272188
Filing Date: 2001-08-07
Classification: G06F,H03M

Abstract:
A method of identifying an extremum value and an index in a group of values, each value having an associated index, comprising the steps of:initializing a count register to a count;providing a value from the group to an arithmetic logic unit;providing a predetermined value to the arithmetic logic unit;comparing the value from the group and the predetermined value in the arithmetic logic unit;setting a selector to one of a first and second state, the first state to select a minimum and the second state to select a maximum;selecting one of the value and the predetermined value as an extremum based on a flag set by the comparison in the arithmetic logic unit and the selector;bit-shifting the count register count to produce a shifted count register count;replacing the predetermined value with the extremum and storing the shifted count register count when the selector is set to the first state and the value is less than the predetermined value; andpacking at least one traceback bit with the shifted count register count.