Apparatus for determining sticky bit value in arithmetic operations

USH1222H · kind H · statutory invention registration

Inventors

• Jeffrey Douglas Brown · Rochester, US
• Roy R Faget · Fort Collins, US
• Scott A. Hilker · Campbell, US

Key dates

• Grant date: Aug 3, 1993

Classification

• Technology area (CPC —): General

Abstract

An apparatus for determining the correct value to be assigned to the "sticky-bit" (S) position as a consequence of an arithmetic floating point multiply, divide or square root operation. The apparatus measures the number of trailing zeroes in the operand registers, performs a sum or difference calculation of these values, and compares the result with a third value to determine the sticky-bit value.