Apparatus and method to support pipelining of differing-latency instructions in a multithreaded processor
US7478225B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 30, 2004 |
| Grant date | Jan 13, 2009 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 13, 2026 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F9/3888
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An apparatus and method to support pipelining of variable-latency instructions in a multithreaded processor. In one embodiment, a processor may include instruction fetch logic configured to issue a first and a second instruction from different ones of a plurality of threads during successive cycles. The processor may also include first and second execution units respectively configured to execute shorter-latency and longer-latency instructions and to respectively write shorter-latency or longer-latency instruction results to a result write port during a first or second writeback stage. The first writeback stage may occur a fewer number of cycles after instruction issue than the second writeback stage. The instruction fetch logic may be further configured to guarantee result write port access by the second execution unit during the second writeback stage by preventing the shorter-latency instruction from issuing during a cycle for which the first writeback stage collides with the second writeback stage.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.