Patent · US Expired

Manipulation of boolean values and conditional operation in a microprocessor

US5964825A · kind A · utility

8Cited by
10References
6Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 9, 1996
Grant dateOct 12, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateFeb 9, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F9/30101
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A general purpose microprocessor architecture enabling more efficient computations of a type in which Boolean operations and arithmetic operations conditioned on the results of the Boolean operations are interleaved. The microprocessor is provided with a plurality of general purpose registers ("GPRs" 102) and an arithmetic logic unit ("ALU" 104), capable of performing arithmetic operations and comparison operations. The ALU has a first input (108) and a second input (110), and an output (112), the first and second inputs receiving values stored in the GPRs. The output stores the results of the arithmetic logic unit operations in the GPRs. At least one of the GPRs is capable of receiving directly from the ALU a result of a Boolean operation. In one embodiment, at least one of the GPRs (PN) capable of receiving directly from the ALU a result of a Boolean operation is configured so as to cause the conditioning of an arithmetic operation of the ALU based on the value stored in the GPR.

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