Patent · US Active

Methods and apparatus for independent processor node operations in a SIMD array processor

US7730280B2 · kind B2 · utility

4Cited by
10References
15Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 18, 2007
Grant dateJun 1, 2010
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 11, 2028

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F15/8007
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A control processor is used for fetching and distributing single instruction multiple data (SIMD) instructions to a plurality of processing elements (PEs). One of the SIMD instructions is a thread start (Tstart) instruction, which causes the control processor to pause its instruction fetching. A local PE instruction memory (PE Imem) is associated with each PE and contains local PE instructions for execution on the local PE. Local PE Imem fetch, decode, and execute logic are associated with each PE. Instruction path selection logic in each PE is used to select between control processor distributed instructions and local PE instructions fetched from the local PE Imem. Each PE is also initialized to receive control processor distributed instructions. In addition, local hold generation logic is associated with each PE. A PE receiving a Tstart instruction causes the instruction path selection logic to switch to fetch local PE Imem instructions.

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