METHOD AND ARCHITECTURE FOR OPTIMIZING DATA THROUGHPUT IN A MULTI-PROCESSOR ENVIRONMENT USING A RAM-BASED SHARED INDEX FIFO LINKED LIST

摘要

A method and architecture for optimizing data throughput in a multiprocessor environment makes use of a RAM-based, shared index FIFO linked list, in which data to be processed is written to a central buffer and the index FIFO, constituting a linked list of indexes to the buffered data is passed between processing units within the system, providing a substantial reduction in the gate count required for processing the data. Messages are written to a central buffer; a linked list of indexes to the messages is created, and then pipelined to a processing unit as an index FIFO, so that the processor reads the entries of the linked list in sequence; as the entries are read, a message indicated by the entry is processed. Entries are enqueued and dequeued in an index FIFO RAM, so that enqueuing and dequeuing are performed in a single cycle with a single write operation.