Patent ID: 7219214

Claim:
A data processing apparatus, comprising: a register data store having a plurality of registers operable to hold data elements, the number of data elements held in each register is dependent on a data type of the data elements; a processor operable to perform in parallel a data processing operation on multiple of said data elements occupying different lanes of parallel processing in at least one register of said plurality of registers; access logic operable in response to a single access instruction to move a plurality of said data elements between a chosen lane of said different lanes in specified registers of said plurality of registers, and a structure within memory having a structure format, the structure format having a plurality of components; the single access instruction including data type information identifying the data type associated with the plurality of said data elements to be moved, and identifying the number of said plurality of components in the structure format; and the access logic being operable to arrange, dependent upon data type, the plurality of said data elements as they are moved such that the data elements of different ones of said plurality of components are held in different registers of said specified registers within the chosen lane whilst in said memory the plurality of said data elements are held as the structure.