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Abstract

A programmable processing engine and a method of operating the same is described, the processing engine including a customized processor, a flexible processor and a data store commonly sharable between the two processors. The customized processor normally executes a sequence of a plurality of pre-customized routines, usually for which it has been optimized. To provide some flexibility for design changes and optimizations, a controller for monitoring the customized processor during execution of routines is provided to select one of a set of pre-customized processing interruption points and for switching context from the customized processor to the flexible processor at the interruption point. The customized processor can then be switched off and the flexible processor carries out a modified routine. By using sharable a data store, the context switch can be chosen at a time when all relevant data is in the sharable data store. This means that the flexible processor can pick up the modified processing cleanly. After the modified processing the flexible processor writes back new data into the data store and the customized processor can continue processing either where it left off or may skip a certain number of cycles as instructed by the flexible processor, before beginning processing of the new data.

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First Claim