A dictionary machine emulation on a VLSI computing tree system

In this paper, we propose a dictionary machine emulation using a novel VLSI tree structure that operates on the dictionary using a blocking technique. We show that dictionary machine operations can be performed through the implementation of a number of processing and communication tasks overlapped on a simple structure. By manipulating the key-records bit serially, and storing them in an external memory rather than within the layers of the structure, we show that the size of the dictionary is limited only by the capacity of the external memory. This structure, which consists of multiple units, can be implemented in VLSI onto a single-chip. The key advantage of our structure is that it provides a means of implementing a high speed and low cost dictionary machine with virtually unlimited capacity; thus, eliminating the need for multiple chips should the dictionary expand. We have that an exhaustive search on a 2048 key-record dictionary can be performed in 29.78 /spl mu/s.