SIMD TYPE MICROPROCESSOR HAVING PROCESSING ELEMENTS THAT HAVE PLURAL DETERMINING UNITS

An SIMD type microprocessor is disclosed. The SIMD type microprocessor includes plural PEs (processor elements) each of which provides an ALU (arithmetic and logic unit) for lower-order bits, an ALU for upper-order bits, a control circuit for lower-order bits, a control circuit for upper-order bits, a range determining circuit for lower-order bits, and a range determining circuit for upper-order bits. The SIMD type microprocessor further includes a global processor, a range designation bus for lower-order bits which connects the global processor to the range determining circuit for lower-order bits, and a range designation bus for upper-order bits which connects the global processor to the range determining circuit for upper-order bits. The global processor instructs the range determining circuits to designate corresponding ranges to be operated on by the corresponding ALUs via the corresponding range designation buses so that the ALU for lower-order bits and the ALU for upper-order bits can be operated separately.