Patent · US Expired

System and method for retiring instructions in a superscalar microprocessor

US5826055A · kind A · utility

59Cited by
18References
52Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 7, 1995
Grant dateOct 20, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 7, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F9/3858
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An system and method for retiring instructions in a superscalar microprocessor which executes a program comprising a set of instructions having a predetermined program order, the retirement system for simultaneously retiring groups of instructions executed in or out of order by the microprocessor. The retirement system comprises a done block for monitoring the status of the instructions to determine which instruction or group of instructions have been executed, a retirement control block for determining whether each executed instruction is retirable, a temporary buffer for storing results of instructions executed out of program order, and a register array for storing retirable-instruction results. In addition, the retirement control block further controls the retiring of a group of instructions determined to be retirable, by simultaneously transferring their results from the temporary buffer to the register array, and retires instructions executed in order by storing their results directly in the register array. The method comprises the steps of monitoring the status of the instructions to determine which group of instructions have been executed, determining whether each executed i…

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