Patent EP0352935A2 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
EP0352935A2
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EP
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Pipelined processor
Assignee: Fujitsu Services Ltd
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Filing: 1989-07-12
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2009-07-12
Abstract
Abstract Data processing apparatus comprises a series of pipeline units each of which consists of a number of pipeline stages. The units are interconnected by a number of parameter files, which provide a number of slots. Whenever an instruction is initiated in the pipeline, it is allocated a slot, and retains that slot until its execution is successfully completed. Two independent streams of instructions are scheduled through the pipeline, each being allocated a fixed number of the slots. In normal operation, one of the streams has priority over the other stream. An instruction is allowed to change the process state only when it successfully terminates at the end of the pipeline, thus ensuring consistency. An instruction can be started in a lower pipeline unit as soon as it is known that its required operand will be available in time from the data slave, thus allowing the operations of these two units to be overlapped.
Inventors
- 👤 Colin Martin Duxbury
- 👤 Philip Vivian Rose
- 👤 John Richard Eaton
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-01 15:16
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F9/00; G06F9/06; G06F9/30; G06F9/38; G06F9/3861; G06F9/3865; G06F9/30145; G06F9/3016; G06F9/30167; G06F9/3836; G06F9/3851; G06F9/3863; G06F9/3867; G06F9/3875; G06F9/3885; G06F9/3889
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 16
Claim 1
Independent Claim
156 words
Data processing apparatus comprising a plurality of pipeline stages, characterised in that: (a) the pipeline stages are grouped into a plurality of pipeline units (11, 12, 13) each of which comprises a plurality of pipeline stages (UPO, UP1.., DSO, DS1.., LPO, LP1..) connected in series for executing a sequence of instructions in an pipelined manner, (b) the pipeline units are interconnected by a plurality of parameter files (IPF, APF, OPF), each of which comprises a plurality of individually selectable registers, the parameter files thus providing a plurality of slots each of which comprises a set of registers, one from each of the parameter files, each parameter file being connected between a pair of said pipeline units, for passing parameters from one of those units to the other, and (c) a slot is allocated to each instruction when execution of that instruction is initiated, the slot being deallocated when the execution of the instruction is successfully completed.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
156 words
Data processing apparatus comprising a plurality of pipeline stages, characterised in that: (a) the pipeline stages are grouped into a plurality of pipeline units (11, 12, 13) each of which comprises a plurality of pipeline stages (UPO, UP1.., DSO, DS1.., LPO, LP1..) connected in series for executing a sequence of instructions in an pipelined manner, (b) the pipeline units are interconnected by a plurality of parameter files (IPF, APF, OPF), each of which comprises a plurality of individually selectable registers, the parameter files thus providing a plurality of slots each of which comprises a set of registers, one from each of the parameter files, each parameter file being connected between a pair of said pipeline units, for passing parameters from one of those units to the other, and (c) a slot is allocated to each instruction when execution of that instruction is initiated, the slot being deallocated when the execution of the instruction is successfully completed.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
28 words
Apparatus according to claim 1 including means for generating first and second independent streams of instructions, and wherein each of the pipeline units processes instructions from both streams.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
16 words
Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein within each stream instructions are terminated in strict chronological order.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
44 words
Apparatus according to claim 2 or 3 wherein at least one of the pipeline units comprises priority means (80-87) for indicating which of the two streams has priority, and for normally selecting instructions from that stream in preference to instructions from the other stream.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
47 words
Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said priority means normally indicates that the first stream has priority, and indicates that the second stream has priority after a predetermined number of instructions from the first stream have been selected without any instructions from the second stream being selected.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
20 words
Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein each of the pipeline units independently selects instructions from the two streams for processing.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
58 words
Apparatus according to any preceding claim wherein the pipeline units comprise: (a) an instruction scheduler (10) for producing said sequence of instructions, (b) an upper pipeline unit (11) for generating operand addresses for the instructions, (c) a data slave store (12) for retrieving the operands, and (d) a lower pipeline unit (13) for performing operations on said operands.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
67 words
Apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said parameter files comprise: (a) an instruction parameter file (IPF) for passing the instructions from the scheduler to the upper pipeline, (b) an address parameter file (APF) for passing the operand addresses from the upper pipeline to the data slave store, and (c) an operand parameter file (OPF) for passing the operands from the data slave store to the lower pipeline.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
22 words
Apparatus according to claim 8 wherein the operand parameter file also passes function codes from the upper pipeline to the lower pipeline.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
31 words
Apparatus according to any preceding claim wherein said parameter files include a termination parameter file (TPF) for storing information regarding errors detected on completion of each instruction by said pipeline units.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
15 words
Apparatus according to any preceding wherein the slots are allocated in a predetermined cyclic order.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
15 words
Apparatus according to any preceding wherein the slots are allocated in a predetermined cyclic order.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
76 words
Apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein a first one of said pipeline units (12) initiates processing of an instruction in a second one of the pipeline units (13) before that instruction has reached the last pipeline stage (DS4) of the first pipeline unit, upon detection of a condition indicating that said instruction will successfully complete its processing in the first pipeline unit, so that the operations of said first and second pipeline units are overlapped.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
51 words
Apparatus according to Claim 12 wherein said first pipeline unit comprises a data slave store and said second pipeline unit is an execution unit for performing an operation on an operand retrieved from the data slave store, wherein said condition is that the operand is present in the data slave store
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
43 words
Apparatus according to any preceding claim, including a plurality of registers defining a process state of the apparatus, wherein each instruction is permitted to update the process state only when execution of the instruction has been successfully completed by all the pipeline units.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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