Patent ID: 7924858

Claim:
A data processing apparatus comprising: a main processing unit configured to perform a plurality of data processing tasks; a data engine configured to perform a number of said data processing tasks on behalf of the main processing unit; at least one shared resource allocated to the data engine by the main processing unit for use by the data engine when performing said number of data processing tasks; the data engine comprising a data engine core configured to perform said number of data processing tasks, and a data engine subsystem configured by the main processing unit to manage communication between the data engine core and said allocated shared resource; the data engine core comprising a resource manager unit configured to act as a master device with respect to the data engine subsystem for managing use of the allocated shared resource, wherein the number of data processing tasks to be performed by the data engine comprise a sequence of instructions, including at least one instruction of an instruction set executable by the data engine core to cause said resource manager unit to act as said master device, upon execution of said at least one instruction the resource manager unit is configured to issue a control command to the data engine subsystem to thereby manage use of the allocated shared resource.