Prefix sums and an application thereof

A method for performing prefix sums, by including a prefix sum instruction in the instruction set of a microprocessor. Both general prefix summation, base-zero prefix summation and base-zero suffix summation are included in the scope of the present invention. The prefix sum instruction may be implemented in software, using the instructions of existing instruction sets, or may be implemented in dedicated hardware, for example, as a functional unit of a microprocessor. The hardware implementation is suitable for application to the allocation of computational resources among concurrent tasks. The scope of the present invention includes one such application: guaranteeing conflict-free access to multiple single-ported register files.