Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for determining a maximum number of live registers

US6317876A · kind A · utility

8Cited by
6References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 8, 1999
Grant dateNov 13, 2001
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 8, 2019

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F8/441
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The present invention is a method and apparatus for compiler optimization that determines the maximum number of live computer registers, or pressure point. The present invention improves the productivity of a software developer by reducing compilation time of a computer program. More particularly, the overhead required during compilation to search information to determine the maximum number of live registers is reduced. The present invention records the relevant events related to the execution of a computer program, as opposed to a comprehensive history of the read instructions and write instructions. Also, the present invention maintains information about the maximum number of live registers for any partition related to the execution of a computer program. The present invention may bound the required system resources required to determine the maximum number of live registers to the number of registers associated with the number of partitions.

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