A pipeline is a mechanism whereby multiple functional elements are interconnected in a series to form an assembly line-like structure whereby the output of one functional element becomes the input of the next. Within a pipeline, all functional elements usually perform their operation concurrently. This technique allows better utilization of resources by breaking down complex operations into their constituent operations and allocating a time-slice for each of the smaller operations.

Examples of pipelines:

• graphics pipeline
• instruction pipeline
• arithmetic pipeline

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