CIRCUIT FOR PRE-CHARGING A FREE NEURON CIRCUIT

In each neuron in a neural network of a plurality of neuron circuits either in an engaged or a free state, a pre-charge circuit, that allows loading the components of an input vector (A) only into a determined free neuron circuit during a recognition phase as a potential prototype vector (B) attached to the determined neuron circuit. The pre-charge circuit is a weight memory (251) controlled by a memory control signal (RS) and the circuit generating the memory control signal. The memory control signal identifies the determined free neuron circuit. During the recognition phase, the memory control signal is active only for the determined free neuron circuit. When the neural network is a chain of neuron circuits, the determined free neuron circuit is the first free neuron in the chain. The input vector components on an input data bus (DATA-BUS) are connected to the weight memory of all neuron circuits. The data therefrom are available in each neuron on an output data bus (RAM-BUS). The pre-charge circuit may further include an address counter (252) for addressing the weight memory and a register (253) to latch the data output on the output data bus. After the determined neuron circuit has been engaged, the contents of its weight memory cannot be modified. Pre-charging the input vector during the recognition phase makes the engagement process more efficient and significantly reduces learning time in learning the input vector.