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By integrating configurable logic into the datapath of a high-performance processor, designers at Stretch Inc. have crafted a CPU that combines a fixed instruction set and a way to create highly optimized custom instructions in hardware.
The S5000 software-configurable processor family combines the flexibility of the compilable Tensilica Xtensa RISC processor core and the programmable Stretch instruction-set extension fabric (ISEF) to create a processor that delivers an instruction set tailored and optimized for market-specific applications.
In typical multimedia applications, the S5000, when clocked at 300 MHz, can perform operations like sum of absolute differences for H.263 codecs in twothirds the time of 600-MHz DSP chips from Texas Instruments.
Integrated...