Configurable processor the building block for SOC (system-on-a-chip)

While silicon scaling makes possible highly integrated SOCs for function rich electronic products, the efforts required to design such an SOC has increased more rapidly than the transistor complexity of the SOC itself. At the same time, market competitiveness continues to demand feature differentiation and short TTM (time-to-market) for the high volume electronic products. This paper describes the emerging methodology of using configurable processors as the building blocks for complex SOC designs. Using processors to replace hardwired logic to accelerate hardware design and bring full chip-level programmability. Using configurability to deliver domain-specific efficiency, high throughput, low cost and low power dissipation. Configurable processor technology has made the creation and adoption of these tuned processors easy. Configurable processors have been used in a variety of high volume SOC platforms and adopted by market leaders. This paper also includes product examples.