A media-oriented processor design

Problem
Given that futuristic workloads for the processor are more geared towards streams (audio, video, etc.), your task in this project is to think about the architecture of a stream-oriented processor.

Background:

Stampede is a cluster parallel programming system developed at Compaq CRL (formerly DEC CRL) for interactive multimedia applications. Emerging application domains such as interactive vision and animation require the efficient management of "temporally evolving" data, which often translates to providing "soft real time" guarantees for such applications. Stampede system provides a higher level data abstraction called Space-time Memorywhich is well-suited to providing the common parallel programming requirements found in most interactive applications, namely, buffer management, inter-task synchronization, and meeting real-time constraints. Other features of Stampede include cluster-wide threads and consistent distributed shared objects. Currently, Stampede is implemented on a cluster of Alpha SMPs (on Digital Unix) interconnected by Memory Channel. You can use the Space-time memory abstraction as an inspiration for thinking about the architecture of the media-oriented processor.

Space-Time Memory: A Parallel Programming Abstraction for Interactive Multimedia Applications. 10th ACM SIGPLAN Symposium on Principles and Practice of Parallel Programming, May 1999.

Deliverables:

A design document giving architectural ideas for a media-oriented processor design.

Evaluation:

Based on the completeness of the design, and the originality of the ideas.