Patent · US Expired

System and method for emulating computer architectures

US5737579A · kind A · utility

19Cited by
13References
85Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 22, 1994
Grant dateApr 7, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 22, 2014

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F13/105
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

When a CPU issues an instruction conforming to a second architecture, the instruction is accepted by an I/O acceptance device within a subcontroller. If an event is set in an SMI status display device in accordance with the contents of the instruction, an SMI generation device simultaneously outputs an SMI signal to the CPU. If that happens, an SMM handler executes given processing corresponding to the event, and a translated instruction is transferred to a first device control device. An instruction that can be translated by hardware circuitry is translated by an instruction translation device that comprises microcode memory. This ensures that a first device control device can be used as a structural component of hardware of a second architecture. It also allows the implementation of compatibility with a number of different computer architectures.

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