Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for selecting the oldest queued instructions without data dependencies

US5745726A · kind A · utility

16Cited by
6References
5Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 5, 1995
Grant dateApr 28, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 5, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F9/384
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An instruction selector receives M instructions per clock cycle and stores N instructions in an instruction queue memory. An instruction queue generates a precedence matrix indicative of the age of the N instructions. A dependency checker determines the available registers for executing the instructions ready for execution. An oldest-instruction selector selects the M oldest instructions responsive to the precedence matrix and the eligible queue entry signals. The instruction queue provides the M selected instructions to execution units for execution. Upon completing the instructions, the execution units provide register availability signals to the dependency checker to release the registers used for the instructions.

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