MICRO-PROGRAMMABLE FILTER ENGINE HAVING PLURALITY OF FILTER ELEMENTS INTERCONNECTED IN CHAIN CONFIGURATION WHEREIN ENGINE SUPPORTS MULTIPLE FILTERS FROM FILTER ELEMENTS

A micro-programmable filter (MFE) engine includes multiple programmable filter elements and a microcode controller. The filter elements can be configured, controlled, and combined in different ways to implement different types of filters. The MFE preferably supports multiple-execution instructions that allow a single instruction to perform multiple moves into accumulators for efficient data movement inside MFE.