Cooperative interconnection for reducing port pressure in clustered microprocessors
US6282585A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 22, 1999 |
| Grant date | Aug 28, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 22, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F15/8007
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The invention provides techniques for reducing the port pressure of a clustered processor. In an illustrative embodiment, the processor includes multiple clusters of execution units, with each of the clusters having a portion of a register file and a portion of a predicate file associated therewith, such that a given cluster is permitted to write to and read from its associated portions of the register and predicate files. A cooperative interconnection technique in accordance with the invention utilizes an inter-cluster move instruction specifying a source cluster and a destination cluster to copy a value from the source cluster to the destination cluster. The value is transmitted over a designated interconnect structure within the processor, and the inter-cluster move instruction is separated into two sub-instructions, one of which is executed by a unit in the source cluster, and another of which is executed by a unit in the destination cluster. These units may be, e.g., augmented ALUs or dedicated interface units within the clusters.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.