EP0463296A2
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
An in-memory preprocessor for a scalable compound instruction set machine processor
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
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Filing: 1991-03-20
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2011-03-20
Abstract
Abstract A digital computer system is described capable of processing two or more computer instructions in parallel and having a main memory unit for storing information blocks including the computer instructions includes an instruction compounding unit for analyzing the instructions and adding to each instruction a tag field which indicates whether or not that instruction may be processed in parallel with another neighboring instruction. Tagged instructions are stored in the main memory. The computer system further includes a plurality of functional instruction processing units which operate in parallel with one another. The instructions supplied to the functional units are obtained from the memory by way of a cache storage unit. At instruction issue time, the tag fields of the instructions are examined and those tagged for parallel processing are sent to different ones of the functional units in accordance with the codings of their operation code fields.
Inventors
- 👤 Bartholomew Blaner
- 👤 Stamatis Vassiliadis
- 👤 Richard James Eickemeyer
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-26 21:10
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F9/00; G06F9/06; G06F9/30; G06F9/38; G06F9/3818; G06F9/382; G06F9/3836; G06F9/3853; G06F9/3885
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 20
Claim 1
Independent Claim
90 words
In a digital computer system including a means for executing a plurality of instructions in parallel, a combination, comprising: an input/output interface for providing a group of instructions to be processed; an instruction compounding mechanism for producing compounding tag information in response to the group of instructions, the compounding tag information indicating instructions of the group of instructions which may be executed in parallel; and a main storage connected to the input/output interface and to the instruction compounding mechanism for storing the group of instructions with the compounding tag information.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
32 words
The combination of Claim 1, wherein compounding tag information is comprised of a plurality of tag fields, each tag field being associated with a respective instruction analyzed by the instruction compounding mechanism.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
45 words
The combination of Claim 1 or 2, wherein the computer system includes a plurality of functional instruction processing units which operate in parallel with one another, the compounding tag information being used in issuing two or more instructions to different ones of the functional unit.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
94 words
The combination of one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the instruction compounding mechanism includes: a plural-instruction instruction register for receiving a plurality of successive instructions; a plurality of rule-based instruction analyzer mechanisms, each rule-based instruction analyzer mechanism analyzing a particular pair of side-by-side instructions in the instruction register and producing a compoundability signal which indicates whether or not the two instructions in said pair may be processed in parallel; and a tag generating mechanism responsive to the compoundability signals for generating the individual tag fields for the different instructions in the instruction register.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
59 words
The combination of Claim 4, wherein the computer system has a particular instruction processing configuration, and each instruction analyzer mechanism includes logic circuitry for implementing rules which define which types of instructions are compatible for parallel execution in the particular instruction processing configuration used for the computer system, the logic circuitry producing the compoundability signal for that analyzer mechanism.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
98 words
In a digital computer system capable of processing two or more instructions in parallel, the combination comprising: means for receiving a group of instructions in a sequence of instructions to be processed; an instruction compounding mechanism connected to said means, the instruction compounding mechanism for receiving the group of instructions and associating with the group of instructions compounding tag fields which indicate which instructions of the group of instructions may be processed in parallel; and a storage mechanism coupled to the instruction compounding mechanism for receiving and storing the group of instructions and the associated compounding tag fields.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
57 words
The combination of Claim 6, further including: a plurality of functional instruction processing units which operate in parallel with one another; and an instruction issue mechanism coupled to the storage mechanism for supplying instructions stored therein to different ones of the functional instruction processing units when their tag fields indicate that they may be processed in parallel.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
40 words
The combination of Claim 6 or 7, wherein the storage mechanism includes a main memory for storing a block of information including said instructions and a cache storage mechanism connected to the main memory and to the instruction issue mechanism.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
35 words
The combination of one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the storage mechanism includes a main memory having a word size sufficient to append compounding tag fields to the instructions of the group of instructions.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
34 words
The combination of one of claims 6 to 9, wherein the storage mechanism includes a main memory for storage of the group of instructions and a tag memory for storage of the compounding tags.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
42 words
The combination of one of claims 6 to 10, wherein the storage mechanism includes a main memory, the main memory including a tag table fro the compounding tag fields and a separate section for storage of a plurality of groups of instructions.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
46 words
The combination of one of claims 6 to 11, wherein the storage mechanism includes a main memory, the main memory including a page section having a first section for storage of the group of instructions and a second section for storage of the compounding tag fields.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
19 words
The combination of one of claims 6 to 12, wherein the group of instructions is a page of instructions.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
39 words
The combination of one of claims 6 to 13, further including instruction executing means connected to the storage mechanism for: fetching a plurality of instructions; and in response to compounding tag fields, executing a plurality of instructions in parallel.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
17 words
The combination of Claim 14, wherein the instruction execution means operates asynchronously with the instruction compounding mechanism.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
81 words
In a digital computer system capable of concurrently executing a plurality of instructions, a combination including: a memory mechanism for storing a predetermined group of instructions to be executed; an instruction compounding unit connected to the memory mechanism for generating compounding tag information which identifies instructions in the predetermined group of instructions which are to be concurrently executed; compounding tag information storage means in the memory mechanism and connected to the instruction compound unit for storing the compounding tag information; and
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
17 words
The combination of Claim 16, wherein the instruction compounding unit is asynchronous with the instruction execution means.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
18 words
The combination of Claim 16 or 17, wherein the compounding tag information storage means is a tag memory.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
20 words
The combination of one of claims 16 to 18, wherein the compounding tag information storage means is a tag table.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
27 words
The combination of one of claims 16 to 19, wherein the compounding tag information storage means includes memory mechanism space appended to the predetermined group of instructions.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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