Patent ID: 7370046

Claim:
A sort processing apparatus for comparing magnitudes of pieces of input data with each other, rearranging said pieces of input data in accordance with results of said comparison, and outputting the compared and selected pieces of data in a data processing system, said apparatus comprising: a data magnitude comparing system for comparing magnitudes of pieces of input data with each other and for outputting a select signal, comprising basic blocks which comprise two-stage parallel basic cells, each of which comprises a data comparator, wherein the two-stages include a first stage and a second stage, and means for rearranging said compared pieces of input data in a magnitude order on the basis of said select signal, comprising a data selector; wherein the number of said parallel basic cells in said first stage of said basic block is larger by one than the number of said parallel basic cells in said second stage of said basic block, and the total number of said basic cells is equal to the number of combinations of pieces of input data to be compared.