Serially connected processing elements having forward and reverse processing time intervals

摘要

Methods and apparatus provide a delayed clock signal to a plurality of serially connected processing elements, such as a bidirectional pipeline processor. The processing elements include forward and reverse processing paths and forward and reverse processing time intervals along the respective paths. The forward and reverse processing time intervals begin when a block of data, such as encryption data, is gated into an individual processing element for processing and terminate when the processed block of data is gated into a subsequent adjacent processing element along the respective forward or reverse processing path. A clock signal distribution circuit provides a clock signal to the plurality of processing elements such that the clock signal arrives at successive processing elements along the clock signal distribution circuit with an increasing amount of delay so that one of the forward or reverse processing time intervals is greater than the other.