Various exemplary embodiments relate to an event-driven processing unit (EPU) and a related method. A microprocessor may halt processing instructions when it executes a halting command. Thereafter, an EPU clock may stop its processing cycle and therefore halt microprocessor execution until it receives a start signal by a pattern detector. The pattern detector may use a plurality of bit slices to monitor a plurality of external inputs for the occurrence of events specified by the user. Some embodiments may also allow the user to check functioning by skipping upcoming instructions if a monitored event did not occur. By halting the EPU clock and the execution flow of the microprocessor, the event-driven microprocessor minimizes waste associated with executing a main control loop while waiting for a monitored event to occur. This may save processing capacity, memory, and power associated with continually running the main control loop.