Moving data in and out of processor units using idle register/storage functional units
US6223208A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 3, 1997 |
| Grant date | Apr 24, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 3, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F9/462
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
In a computer system and a processor which has the capability to do multithreaded processor, the computer system and processor use idle register/storage functional units within the processor core to transfer the state of a thread out of the processor to memory or from memory to the processor core. The register/storage functional units are interrogated dynamically so that this transfer occurs only when the register/storage functional units are idle and not being used for normal instructions. Thus, a state may be transferred in whole if there are many cycles when the register/storage functional unit is idle or it may be transferred in part if there an insufficient number of no-op instructions for the entire state. A context switch unit in the processor then has appropriate registers and logic control to keep track of the state of the thread that is being "idly" transferred and then transfer the remaining registers when a register/storage functional is available or "idle."
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.