Patent · US Expired

Apparatus and method using different size rename registers for partial-bit and bulk-bit writes

US7428631B2 · kind B2 · utility

5Cited by
6References
14Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJul 31, 2003
Grant dateSep 23, 2008
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 28, 2024

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F9/384
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An apparatus and method are provided for renaming a logical register for which bit accesses of varying lengths are permitted, such as a predicate register. Rename logic supports renaming for both partial-bit accesses and bulk-bit accesses to bits of the register. Rename logic utilizes a rename map table associated with the logical register to be renamed and also includes a plurality of physical rename registers. They physical rename registers include a set of skinny physical rename registers to be used for renaming for partial-bit writes. The physical rename registers also include a set of fat physical rename registers to be used for renaming for bulk-bit writes. Additional sizes of physical rename registers may also be employed. The entries of the single physical rename map table may point to either fat or skinny physical rename registers.

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