Method and system for compressing compiled microcode to be executed within a data processing system
US5764994A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 16, 1996 |
| Grant date | Jun 9, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 16, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F9/24
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method for compressing a set of compiled microcode to be utilized within a data processing system is disclosed. In accordance with the method and system of the present invention, all branch instructions within a set of compiled microcode are first identified. Then, the set of compiled microcode is parsed into a number of microcode segments such that each microcode segment begins at an instruction following each identified branch instruction or at a target address of each identified branch instruction. Subsequently, each of these microcode segments is individually translated to its compressed form by utilizing a data-compression routine. Finally, all the compressed microcode segments are concatenated together and linked by inserting branch instructions with modified target address, to yield a set of compressed executable microcode. By doing so, the required memory for storing the compressed executable microcode is reduced.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.