Datapath

A datapath is a collection of functional units such as arithmetic logic units or multipliers that perform data processing operations, registers, and buses.[1] Along with the control unit it composes the central processing unit (CPU).[1] A larger datapath can be made by joining more than one datapaths using multiplexers.

A data path is the ALU, the set of registers, and the CPU's internal bus(es) that allow data to flow between them.[2]

A microarchitecture datapath organized around a single bus

The simplest design for a CPU uses one common internal bus. Efficient addition requires a slightly more complicated three-internal-bus structure.[3] Many relatively simple CPUs have a 2-read, 1-write register file connected to the 2 inputs and 1 output of the ALU.

During the late 1990s, there was growing research in the area of reconfigurable datapaths—datapaths that may be re-purposed at run-time using programmable fabric—as such designs may allow for more efficient processing as well as substantial power savings.[4]

See also

References
  1. Null, Linda; Lobur, Julia (2006). The Essentials of Computer Organization and Architecture. Jones & Bartlett Learning. p. 2016. ISBN 978-0-7637-3769-6. All computers have a CPU that can be divided into two pieces. The first is the datapath, which is a network of storage units (registers) and arithmetic and logic units... connected by buses... where the timing is controlled by clocks.
  2. Edward Bosworth. "Overview of Computer Architecture".
  3. Edward Bosworth. "CPU Bus Structure".
  4. J. R. Hauser and J. Wawrzynek, Garp: a MIPS processor with a reconfigurable coprocessor, FCCM’97, 1997, pp. 12–21.
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