A sorting processor for microcomputers

Abstract File or database processing in business oriented microcomputers requires frequent data sorting. In a situation of modest system resources of microcomputers, applied software sorting procedures may not be efficient enough for some applications. An alternative approach is to achieve fast sorting by means of specialized hardware. Known hardware sorters are not economically justified for low cost microcomputers. As an efficient and cost-effective solution, we propose a new concept of a sorting processor for microcomputers, SPR. The SPR is dedicated to accelerate sorting and sort-based database operations. The sorting method is radix sort with 64K radix. The paper presents the basic algorithm and hardware organization of the SPR. A detailed functional description of the sorting operation is given. Using the SPR a sorting algorithm achieves an order of complexity O(N) with specific sorting speed within a few microseconds per 16-bit word. The described hardware is convenient for VLSI implementation.