Multiplication Apparatus

1 - 9 . (canceled)

10 . A multiplication apparatus for generating a product of a multiplicand, which is a fixed point number represented in two's complement, and a multiplier, which is an (N+1)-bit (where N is an integer of not less than 2) fixed point number represented in two's complement, the multiplication apparatus comprising:

an encoding unit for encoding the multiplier based on a radix-4 Booth's algorithm and outputting a plurality of encoding results obtained;

an overflow detection unit for detecting an occurrence of an overflow when each of the multiplicand and the multiplier is a negative maximum value;

a partial product generation unit for generating a plurality of partial products from the multiplicand and the plurality of encoding results as well as a plurality of correction factors, which correspond to the plurality of individual partial products, to be added to the corresponding partial products and provide respective two's complements of the partial products, correcting any of the plurality of partial products and the plurality of correction factors such that the multiplication result has a positive maximum value when the overflow detection unit detects the occurrence of the overflow, and outputting a result of the correction;

an accumulation unit for performing accumulation of the plurality of partial products and the plurality of correction factors, compressing a result of the accumulation to two intermediate products, and outputting the two intermediate products; and

a final addition unit for performing addition of the two intermediate products and outputting the result of the addition as a multiplication result,

wherein the partial product generation unit includes:

a plurality of first partial product generation circuits for individually receiving the plurality of encoding results except for the most significant and least significant encoding results and performing, based on the multiplicand and the received encoding results, the generation of each of the plurality of partial products corresponding to the received encoding results except for the most significant and least significant partial products and the generation of each of the plurality of correction factors corresponding to the received encoding results except for the most significant and least significant correction factors;

a second partial product generation circuit for performing, based on the multiplicand and the most significant encoding result of the plurality of encoding results, the generation of the most significant partial product of the plurality of partial products and the generation of the most significant correction factor of the plurality of correction factors; and

a third partial product generation circuit for performing, based on the multiplicand and the least significant encoding result of the plurality of encoding results, the generation of the least significant partial product of the plurality of partial products and the generation of the least significant correction factor of the plurality of correction factors,

wherein the second partial product generation circuit outputs 0 as the most significant correction factor when the occurrence of the overflow is detected by the overflow detection unit, and

wherein the third partial product generation circuit outputs 1 as each of lower (N−1) bits of the least significant partial product when the occurrence of the overflow is detected by the overflow detection unit.

11 . The multiplication apparatus of claim 10 , wherein

the third partial product generation circuit includes:

a plurality of selection circuits each for generating one bit of the least significant partial product in response to the multiplicand and to a selection signal; and

an encoding result correction unit,

wherein an output of the encoding result correction unit is given as the selection signal to each of the (N−1) selection circuits of the plurality of selection circuits which output the lower (N−1) bits of the least significant partial product, while the least significant encoding result is given as the selection signal to each of the other selection circuits, and

wherein the encoding result correction unit outputs a value such that 1 is outputted from each of the selection circuits to which the output of the encoding result correction unit is given in a case where the occurrence of the overflow is detected by the overflow detection unit, while outputting the least significant encoding result in the other cases.

12 . The multiplication apparatus of claim 10 , wherein

the third partial product generation circuit includes:

a plurality of selection circuits each for generating one bit of the least significant partial product in response to the multiplicand and to a selection signal; and

(N−1) saturation processing circuits corresponding to the respective (N−1) selection circuits of the plurality of selection circuits which output the lower (N−1) bits of the least significant partial product,

wherein each of the plurality of selection circuits uses the least significant encoding result as the selection signal, and

wherein each of the (N−1) saturation processing circuits corrects an output of the corresponding selection circuit of the plurality of selection circuits to 1 and outputs the corrected value in a case where the occurrence of the overflow is detected by the overflow detection unit, while outputting the output of the corresponding selection circuit as it is in the other cases.

13 . A multiplication apparatus for generating a product of a multiplicand, which is a fixed point number represented in two's complement, and a multiplier, which is a fixed point number represented in two's complement, the multiplication apparatus comprising:

an encoding unit for encoding the multiplier based on a radix-4 Booth's algorithm and outputting a plurality of encoding results obtained;

an overflow detection unit for detecting an occurrence of an overflow when each of the multiplicand and the multiplier is a negative maximum value;

a partial product generation unit for generating a plurality of partial products from the multiplicand and the plurality of encoding results as well as a plurality of correction factors, which correspond to the plurality of individual partial products, to be added to the corresponding partial products and provide respective two's complements of the partial products, correcting any of the plurality of partial products and the plurality of correction factors such that the multiplication result has a positive maximum value when the overflow detection unit detects the occurrence of the overflow, and outputting a result of the correction;

an accumulation unit for performing accumulation of the plurality of partial products and the plurality of correction factors, compressing a result of the accumulation to two intermediate products, and outputting the two intermediate products; and

a final addition unit for performing addition of the two intermediate products and outputting the result of the addition as a multiplication result,

wherein the partial product generation unit includes:

a plurality of first partial product generation circuits for individually receiving the plurality of encoding results except for the most significant encoding result and performing, between the multiplicand and the received encoding results, the generation of each of the plurality of partial products corresponding to the received encoding results except for the most significant partial product and the generation of each of the plurality of correction factors corresponding to the received encoding results except for the most significant correction factor; and

a second partial product generation circuit for performing, based on the multiplicand and the most significant encoding result of the plurality of encoding results, the generation of the most significant partial product of the plurality of partial products and the generation of the most significant correction factor of the plurality of correction factors,

wherein each of the plurality of first partial product generation circuits outputs a binary number 11 as each of the correction factors to be generated except for the most significant correction factor when the occurrence of the overflow is detected by the overflow detection unit, and

wherein the second partial product generation circuit outputs 0 as the most significant correction factor when the occurrence of the overflow is detected by the overflow detection unit.