CONNECTION CONTROLLER

PURPOSE: To provide a mechanism which has a connection part between processors simplified and is given flexibility for the performance improvement of a parallel arithmetic mechanism. CONSTITUTION: A connection switching switch part 120 internally has switch elements 1210-1284 which optionally provide styles of connections between a looped signal line and plural processor elements 101-107, and desired parallel pipeline processing structure is obtained. A switch element control part 150 controls the connection states of the switch elements 1210-1284 through the signal line 144. Connection alteration contents are sent through a signal line 160 and connection alteration timing is transmitted through a signal line 170. An integrated circuit is reduced in the number of input/output pins and made compact by giving a two-way function to the connection switching switch part 120, and switches are formed in simple structure to reduce element delay by the switch elements, improve a data transfer speed, and further optionally change the connection states between processors.