The Maximum Rate Accumulator

This paper concerns the application of a result of Arden and Arthurs to a particular finite-state machine, the accumulator. Arden and Arthurs have shown that given a complete set of devices for some fixed sequence rate, any finite-state machine may be constructed from these devices to operate at this maximum rate. In this paper we consider the construction of a good representation (in terms of overall delay) of the m-bit accumulator, operating at the maximum rate. Examples are presented using state-of-the-art devices which illustrate the construction and give measures of usefulness and cost Of this accumulator.