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An improved mechanism for performing different types of digital signal processing functions, including correlation, sorting, and filtering operations. The mechanism includes a plurality of computational cells which can be dynamically configured (and reconfigured) in parallel to perform the different

An improved mechanism for performing different types of digital signal processing functions, including correlation, sorting, and filtering operations. The mechanism includes a plurality of computational cells which can be dynamically configured (and reconfigured) in parallel to perform the different types of digital signal processing functions. Preferably, the computation cells carry out such digital signal processing operations in parallel without the need for extensive iteration. Such parallel configuration and subsequent parallel processing operations provide improved computational performance.

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1. A method for performing a digital signal processing operation comprising:providing a configurable computation engine including a plurality of M computation cells, where M is an integer greater than two, each given computation cell including at least one storage element, a comparator that compares

1. A method for performing a digital signal processing operation comprising:providing a configurable computation engine including a plurality of M computation cells, where M is an integer greater than two, each given computation cell including at least one storage element, a comparator that compares an operand supplied thereto with respect to a data value stored in said at least one storage element, and control logic operably coupled to at least one multiplexer that configures operation of the given computation cell in response to configuration control data supplied thereto, wherein said computation engine also includes a global control register that supplies the configuration control data to the control logic for the M computation cells in parallel;providing first configuration control data from the global control register to the control logic of the M computational cells in parallel to configure the computation cells to perform correlation processing operations;operating the computation engine to perform a correlation operation;providing second configuration control data from the global control register to the control logic of the M computational cells in parallel to reconfigure the computation cells to perform filtering processing operations;operating the computation engine to perform a filtering operation;providing third configuration control data from the global control register to the control logic of the M computational cells in parallel to reconfigure the computation cells to perform sorting processing operations; andoperating the computation engine to perform a sorting operation. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:supplying digital audio data corresponding to a first voice channel to said computation engine prior to performing said correlation operation, said correlation operation being performed on said supplied digital audio data. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein said correlation operation is a cross-correlation operation. 4. The method of claim 2, wherein said correlation operation is a auto-correlation operation. 5. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of:supplying digital audio data corresponding to a second voice channel to said computation engine prior to performing said filtering operation, said filtering operation being performed on said supplied digital audio data. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein said filtering operation is a finite impulse response filtering operation. 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:supplying digital data from a first programmable processor to the computation engine to be used in performing the correlation operation; andsupplying digital data from a second programmable processor to the computation engine to be used in performing the filtering operation. 8. A method of performing a digital signal processing operation comprising:providing a configurable computation engine including a plurality of M computation cells, where M is an integer greater than two, each given computation cell including at least one storage element, a comparator that compares an operand supplied thereto with respect to a data value stored in said at least one storage element, and control logic operably coupled to at least one multiplexer that configures operation of the given computation cell in response to configuration control data supplied thereto, wherein said computation engine also includes a global control register that supplies the configuration control data to the control logic for the M computation cells in parallel;providing first configuration control data from the global control register to the control logic of the M computational cells in parallel to configure the computation cells within the computation engine to perform sorting processing operations;operating the computation engine to perform a sorting operation;providing second configuration control data from the global control register to the control logic of the M computational cells in parallel to reconfigure the computation cells within the computation engine to perform filtering processing operations; andoperating the computation engine to perform a filtering operation. 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the steps of:supplying digital data from a first programmable processor to the computation engine to be used in performing the sorting operation; andsupplying digital data from a second programmable processor to the computation engine to be used in performing the filtering operation. 10. The method of claim 8, wherein:said filtering operation is performed on digital audio data corresponding to a voice channel. 11. The method of claim 8, wherein said filtering operation is a finite impulse response filtering operation. 12. A method of performing a digital signal processing operation comprising:providing a configurable computation engine including a plurality of M computation cells, where M is an integer greater than two, each given computation cell including at least one storage element, a comparator that compares an operand supplied thereto with respect to a data value stored in said at least one storage element, and control logic operably coupled to at least one multiplexer that configures operation of the given computation cell in response to configuration control data supplied thereto, wherein said computation engine also includes a global control register that supplies the configuration control data to the control logic for the M computation cells in parallel;providing first configuration control data from the global control register to the control logic of the M computational cells in parallel to configure the computation cells within the computation engine to perform correlation processing operations;operating the computation engine to perform a correlation operation;providing second configuration control data from the global control register to the control logic of the M computational cells in parallel to reconfigure the computation cells within the computation engine to perform sorting operations; andoperating the computation engine to perform a sorting operation. 13. The method of claim 12, further comprising the steps of:supplying digital data from a first programmable processor to the computation engine to be used in performing the correlation operation; andsupplying digital data from a second programmable processor to the computation engine to be used in performing the sorting operation. 14. The method of claim 12, wherein:said correlation operation is performed on digital audio data corresponding to a voice channel. 15. The method of claim 12, wherein:said correlation operation is a cross-correlation operation. 16. The method of claim 12, wherein:said correlation operation is a auto-correlation operation.