The performance degradation caused by branch instructions in pipelined computers is well known. The degradation is even greater on computers with multiple pipelines processing a single instruction stream, such as superscalar and scalable compound instruction-set machines (SCISM). Several branch prediction schemes have been proposed that attempt to reduce this performance penalty. One of these {...

Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and multimedia workloads are expected to be the dominant workloads on future computer systems. This is true in both low cost embedded applications that use specialized microprocessors like DSPs and in the generalpurpose processor market. Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) architectures have multiple functional units to take advantage of vastly available Instructio...

The role of inhibition in children's (5-, 7-, and 11-year-olds') false memory illusions in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm was examined using a list-wise directed-forgetting procedure. Children studied either a single DRM list (control) or two DRM lists in succession with a directed-remembering instruction or a directed-forgetting instruction between list presentations. The findings...

This paper presents instruction set architectural guidelines for improving general-purpose embedded processors to optimally accommodate packet-processing applications. Similar to other embedded processors such as media processors, packet-processing engines are deployed in embedded applications, where cost and power are as important as performance. In this domain, the growing demands for higher ...

The effect of density of embedded post-questions on learning from computer-based instruction (CBI) was studied among 90 sixth-graders randomly assigned to three versions of a CBI programme — high density, low density, and no embedded questions. Children made significant achievement gains across each increase in question density, consistent across the continuum of reading ability represented in ...

This paper presents experiments which show how Multimedia Extensions found in the modern computer architectures can be used to speedup common image processing algorithms. This approach can be very useful in the development of efficient algorithms for processing of large images like the ones acquired with satellites. The experiments were performed with satellite images from the Amazonas Forest i...

Current day general purpose processors have been enhanced with what is called " media instruction set " t o achieve performance gains in applications that are media processing intensive. The instruction set that have been added exploit the fact that media applications have small native datatypes and have widths much less than that supported by commercial processors and the plethora of data-para...

Workloads on general-purpose computing systems have changed dramatically over the past few years, with greater emphasis on emerging compute-intensive applications such as media processing and databases. However, until recently, most high performance computing studies have primarily focused on scientific and engineering workloads, potentially leading to designs not suitable for these emerging wo...

The multiply-accumulate (MAC) unit is an addition to the ColdFire core that provides a new level of support for signal processing algorithms. This paper details the associated support functions within the instruction set. Signal processing features are discussed for potential applications in embedded systems, and examples are presented for implementing some useful algorithms.

Due to advancements in semiconductor processing technology, unprecedented levels of system integration are now possible in digital signal processing systems. MIMD/multicomputer architectures used for parallel digital signal processing applications are not always e cient, and are di cult to program. Very long instruction word processors are uniquely suited to digital signal processing applicatio...