Computer instruction prefetch circuit
US4298927A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 23, 1978 |
| Grant date | Nov 3, 1981 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 23, 1998 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F9/3802
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A digital computer system including a computation unit (14), a main store (12), a virtual address translator (10), a microinstruction control unit (170) and an instruction code prefetch circuit (212). User instruction codes are stored sequentially in the main store (12) which is accessed for read and write operations by the virtual address translator (10). The instruction code prefetch circuit (212) retrieves the user instruction codes from the main store (12) and holds the instruction codes in a register (16, 18). The instruction codes are transferred from the register (16, 18) to the computation unit (14) in sequential order of use. The microinstruction control unit (170) produces selected microinstructions which are executed by the computation unit (14) to accomplish the operations specified by the user instructions. Designated microinstructions include commands which activate the instruction code prefetch circuit (212) to retrieve the succeeding user instruction codes from the main store (12).
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.