Patent · US Expired

Data processing system for resuming instruction execution after an interrupt and method therefor

US5475822A · kind A · utility

109Cited by
9References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateNov 15, 1993
Grant dateDec 12, 1995
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 15, 2013

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F9/3861
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The data processing system(10) implements a resumable instruction using two instruction bytes. When a program counter (72) points to a first instruction byte, a first data processing operation is initiated. If an interrupt occurs during execution of the first data processing operation, intermediate data calculations held in a plurality of temporary registers (64, 66, 68) are saved in stack memory at a location pointed to by the stack pointer register (72). The program counter is incremented to point to a second byte of the instruction. An instruction resume operation is executed and the intermediate results of the data processing operation are accessed from the stack memory and restored to respective storage locations within the data processing system. After the intermediate results are restored, the program counter is decremented to point to the first instruction byte and the instruction continues executing the data processing operation as though no interrupt occurred.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.