Microprocessor having register bank and using a general purpose register as a stack pointer
US5491826A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | May 28, 1993 |
| Grant date | Feb 13, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 28, 2013 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F9/462
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A microprocessor having a register file has an execution unit, a register file for storing data or information for a task, and a bank ram. The register file includes a stack pointer, a general purpose register group having a plurality of registers for storing data used for the execution unit, and a special purpose register group for storing data of a task. The special purpose register group includes a current bank pointer, a processor status word (PSW), a preceding bank pointer, and a program counter. The bank ram is made up of a plurality of bank blocks. Each bank block consists of a predetermined unit banks. Each bank block is capable of storing the data of the register file per task. In the microprocessor described above, when a current task is switched to another task, the content of the stack pointer of the current task is set as one of the registers in the general purpose register group. The number of the unit blocks per bank block and the bit width of the stack pointer can be changed by the PSW.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.