Modern applications, such as multimedia applications where text, audio, speech, video, and data communications are all processed in real-time, have special requirements. Standard commercially available microcomputers have typically not had the requisite processing power in order to perform all these tasks in a real-time environment. Modern architectures which are designed to handle the load associated with operating these types of tasks in real-time has sometimes dictated the use of a digital signal processor (DSP). However, even when using a digital signal processor, tasks consuming a lot of processing bandwidth still need to be managed in an efficient way in order for all the requisite processing to be done within specific intervals of time.