Abstract: In a system having a plurality of sources for generating tasks and a plurality of receivers for receiving said tasks wherein a plurality of said tasks for one or more said receivers may be generated at the same time by one or more of said sources, each said receiver having a unique address within said system, an apparatus comprising a storage means for storing said tasks generated by said sources; an address means for generating, in each system cycle, the address of one of said receivers; and priority means connected to said address means and said storage means for establishing priority among the tasks for the receiver whose address is being generated by said address means and for generating a signal indicating which said task has priority, where said priority is established as a function of said selected tasks location in said storage means and the sequence that said selected tasks were stored in said storage means.

Abstract: Disclosed is a signed multiplier for use in a data processing system that handles 2's complement operands. The signed multiplier operates to form a preliminary product independently of the signs of the multiplier and multiplicand. While the multiplication is in progress, the signs of the multiplier and multiplicand are checked. For multiplications where either one of the operands (multiplier or multiplicand) is negative, the preliminary product is modified by one or two correction factors. The correction factors are multiplies of the 2's complements of the operands. The correction factor or factors are added to the preliminary product to form the final product.