Processing unit and processing method

摘要

A digital signal processor capable of performing a Viterbi algorithm is provided. The digital signal processor includes an instruction fetching unit that fetches instructions; a decoding unit that decodes the instructions fetched by the instruction fetching unit, and an execution unit that executes the instructions decoded by the decoding unit. The execution unit includes a first comparing unit that compares first data with second data and a second comparing unit that compares third data with fourth data. The first comparing unit and the second comparing unit operate in parallel. Also, the first data, the second data, the third data, and the fourth data can each be one of four results obtained by adding one of two path metrics to one of two branch metrics. The execution unit outputs any two new path metrics in a high order position and a low order position respectively.