Patent · US Active

Method and apparatus for performing numerical calculations

US8805914B2 · kind B2 · utility

5Cited by
7References
28Claims
0Family size

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Key dates

Filing dateJun 2, 2010
Grant dateAug 12, 2014
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 17, 2032

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F2207/3824
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

There is provided a method of processing an iterative computation on a computing device comprising at least one processor. Embodiments of the method comprises performing, on a processor, an iterative calculation on data in a fixed point numerical format having a scaling factor, wherein the scaling factor is selectively variable for different steps of said calculation in order to prevent overflow and to minimize underflow. By providing such a method, the reliability, precision and flexibility of floating point operations can be achieved whilst using fixed point processing logic. The errors which fixed-point units are usually prone to generate if the range limits are exceeded can be mitigated, whilst still providing the advantage of a significantly reduced logic area to perform the calculations in fixed point.

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