MULTIWORD MEMORY DATA STORAGE AND ADDRESSING TECHNIQUE AND APPARATUS

摘要

A technique and apparatus for storing data and addressing stored data in a memory from which multiple words of data are to be retrieved in parallel is disclosed. The memory is addressed by providing the address of the first of N consecutive words to be retrieved in parallel. The data is stored in memory in physical data words which contain N logical data words such that the addressing of one physical data word will result in N logical data words being read in parallel from the memory. Each physical data word contains the contents of the logical data word having the same address as that of the physical data word in its leftmost position followed in the next right position by the contents of the logical data word having the next higher address, and so on until the rightmost position of the physical data word contains the contents of the logical data word with an address equal to the physical data word address plus N-1. This results in the contents of each logical data word being stored N times in the memory, but eliminates the need for data alignment as the N logical data words are read in parallel from the memory.