Patent · US Expired

System and method for conditionally moving an operand from a source register to a destination register

US5909572A · kind A · utility

81Cited by
35References
12Claims
0Family size

Assignees

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 2, 1996
Grant dateJun 1, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 2, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F9/3887
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A multimedia extension unit (MEU) is provided for performing various multimedia-type operations. The MEU can be coupled either through a coprocessor bus or a local CPU bus to a conventional processor. The MEU employs vector registers, a vector ALU, and an operand routing unit (ORU) to perform a maximum number of the multimedia operations within as few instruction cycles as possible. Complex algorithms are readily performed by arranging operands upon the vector ALU in accordance with the desired algorithm flowgraph. The ORU aligns the operands within partitioned slots or sub-slots of the vector registers using vector instructions unique to the MEU. At the output of the ORU, operand pairs from vector source or destination registers can be easily routed and combined at the vector ALU. The vector instructions employ special load/store instructions in combination with numerous operational instructions to carry out concurrent multimedia operations on the aligned operands.

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