Patent · US Active

Compressed instruction format for use in a VLIW processor

US8583895B2 · kind B2 · utility

30Cited by
34References
3Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJan 22, 2004
Grant dateNov 12, 2013
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 7, 2032

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F9/3885
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A compressed instruction format for a VLIW processor allows greater efficiency in use of cache and memory. Instructions are byte aligned and variable length. Branch targets are uncompressed. Format bits specify how many issue slots are used in a following instruction. NOPS are not stored in memory. Individual operations are compressed according to features such as whether they are resultless, guarded, short, zeroary, unary, or binary. Instructions are stored in compressed form in memory and in cache. Instructions are decompressed on the fly after being read out from cache.

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