Method and apparatus for a late pipeline enhanced floating point unit
US6460134B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 28, 1998 |
| Grant date | Oct 1, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 28, 2018 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG11C7/1006
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The present invention comprises a method and apparatus for a pipeline of functional units with a late pipe functional unit that executes instructions without stalling until the result is available. The present invention comprises one or more earlier functional units coupled to a late pipe functional unit. The late pipe functional unit does not begin executing instructions until all of the input operands are or will be available for execution so that the late pipe functional unit will execute instructions without stalling until the result will be available in a fixed number of cycles. The present invention further comprises a late pipe functional unit that may comprise a floating point unit, a graphics unit, or an enhanced floating point unit. And finally, the late pipe functional unit is non-stalling and or is non-cancelable.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.