Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for handling imprecise exceptions

US6085312A · kind A · utility

29Cited by
11References
28Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 31, 1998
Grant dateJul 4, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 31, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F9/3861
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method and apparatus for updating the architectural state in a system implementing staggered execution with multiple micro-instructions. According to one aspect of the invention, a method is provided in which a macro-instruction is decoded into a first and second micro-instructions. The macro-instruction designates an operation on a pieced of data, and execution of the first and second micro-instructions separately cause the operation to be performed on different parts of the piece of data. The method also requires that the first micro-instruction is executed irrespective of the second micro-instructions (e.g., at a different time), and that it is detected that said second micro-instruction will not cause any non-recoverable exceptions. The results of the first micro-instruction are then used to update the architectural state in an earlier clock cycle than said second micro-instruction.

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