Method and apparatus for exponent adder
US5117384A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 3, 1991 |
| Grant date | May 26, 1992 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 3, 2011 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F7/485
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An apparatus and method for determining the difference between two exponents of two floating point numbers is disclosed. The exponent of each number is split into two portions. A high portion contains the most significant bits and a low portion contains the least significant bits. The number of bits in the low portion is related to the number of bits in the fraction portion of each floating point number. To determine differences that require a shift in one of the exponenets, one of the differences between the low portions of the exponents is selected based upon which of several conditions are found with respect to the difference between the high portion. Advantageously, a set of adders which are as wide as the number of bits in the low portion of each exponent are used.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.