1. A method of operating a system having multiple finite state machines, each finite state machine generating a ready signal when its operation is complete, comprising the steps of: selecting a set of the finite state machines to participate in an operation; supplying input to the multiple finite state machines; if a plurality of the finite state machines are selected for operation, waiting until all selected finite state machines generate the ready signal; if only one of the finite state machines is selected for operation, waiting until the selected finite state machine generates the ready signal; if none of the finite state machines are selected for operation, waiting until at least one non-selected finite state machine generates the ready signal; obtaining output from the selected finite state machines.