Patent · US Expired

Breaking replay dependency loops in a processor using a rescheduled replay queue

US6981129B1 · kind B1 · utility

72Cited by
8References
23Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateNov 2, 2000
Grant dateDec 27, 2005
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 5, 2022

Classification

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

Abstract

Breaking replay dependency loops in a processor using a rescheduled replay queue. The processor comprises a replay queue to receive a plurality of instructions, and an execution unit to execute the plurality of instructions. A scheduler is coupled between the replay queue and the execution unit. The scheduler speculatively schedules instructions for execution and increments a counter for each of the plurality of instructions to reflect the number of times each of the plurality of instructions has been executed. The scheduler also dispatches each instruction to the execution unit either when the counter does not exceed a maximum number of replays or, if the counter exceeds the maximum number of replays, when the instruction is safe to execute. A checker is coupled to the execution unit to determine whether each instruction has executed successfully. The checker is also coupled to the replay queue to communicate to the replay queue each instruction that has not executed successfully.

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