Method for branching to an instruction in a computer program at a memory address pointed to by a key in a data structure
US5935235A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 16, 1998 |
| Grant date | Aug 10, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 16, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F9/4843
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method for searching for keys of arbitrary width in a table in a memory of a computer system by repeatedly executing lookup instructions on a lookup processor. The lookup processor executes a lookup instruction to find a key in a table. The execution of the lookup instruction results in a key being found, or a key not being found. If the key is not found, the process is requeued by a scheduler with the program counter register for the process pointing to the instruction immediately following the lookup instruction, i.e., the next instruction. In the event the key is found in the table, the entry in the table associated with the key contains the memory address of the next instruction to be executed. This memory address is loaded into the program counter register associated with the process in which the lookup instruction was executed. The scheduler requeues the process, later dequeues it, and the instruction pointed to by the program counter register is fetched by an instruction fetch unit. A dispatcher sends the process to the appropriate processor for execution of the next instruction. In this way, a branch to any instruction in the process can be performed. The instruction poin…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.