Method and apparatus for distributing commands to a plurality of circuit blocks

摘要

A command memory stores commands in memory words. Each command has a label field and an action field. The commands are consolidated to reduce the amount of information stored in the command memory. A control unit interprets the commands and restores the order that was removed by the consolidation. The control unit arranges the action fields as commands in a control word based on information in the label field. When the commands are compressed in the command memory, commands that are not performed in parallel can be stored in the same memory word. Commands that are performed in parallel can be stored in different memory words. The order of the commands in the control word is determined by information in the label field, such as whether the command is performed in parallel with a preceding command. Groups of commands that are decoded to form time-sensitive control words or control words that are the target of jump commands are aligned with a memory word boundary so that the commands forming the control word can be read during a single clock cycle. The group of commands can be aligned with a memory word boundary by inserting a special code or an illegal command in the previous memory word.