Method for tracking pipeline resources in a superscalar processor
US5860018A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 25, 1997 |
| Grant date | Jan 12, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 25, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F9/3863
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method and apparatus for tracking pipeline resources of a processor involves fetching selected ones of the coded instructions and marking the fetched instructions with instruction metadata. The instruction metadata indicates a number of pipeline resources required by each instruction. The marked instructions are issued from the fetch unit and, using the instruction metadata, a count of a number of resources committed to issued instructions in the execution pipelines is maintained. When it is determined that the number of resources committed to issued instructions exceeds a preselected maximum and instructions are prevented from issuing from the fetch unit. As each instruction is retired, the instruction metadata is used to determine a number of resources released by retirement of the issued instruction.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.