SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PARALLEL COMPUTING MULTIPLE PACKED-SUM ABSOLUTE DIFFERENCES (PSAD) IN RESPONSE TO A SINGLE INSTRUCTION

A system and method are presented in which multiple packed-sum absolute differences (PSAD) are computed in response to a single instruction. One embodiment of the system comprises a first register configured to store a first operand having data elements, and a second register configured to store a second operand having data elements. Additionally, the system comprises a processor configured to perform multiple PSAD calculations between the data elements of the second operand and a first subset of data elements of the first operand. The multiple PSAD calculations are performed in response to a single instruction set. One embodiment of the method comprises the steps of receiving a single instruction, and performing multiple PSAD calculations in response to the single instruction.