What are IP cores?
IP Stands for Intellectual Property. Today many of the hardware related and signal processor related algorithms and circuits are developed by some companies which are basically IP core development companies and they are useful in implementing a complex system/product. These IP cores generally portable and reusable. Today for any complex digital system implementation, majority of the times people prefer to use an existing IP cores and develop the system in a short time. FPGA manufacturers offer IP cores suitable for their FPGAs (may be sometimes suitable for ASICs also).
