Patent
1996-02-20
1998-07-28
Treat, William M.
395393, G06F 900
Patent
active
057872660
ABSTRACT:
A microprocessor employing an apparatus for performing special register writes without serialization is provided. The apparatus detects special register write instructions when the instructions are dispatched, and stores an indication of the write in a special register dependency block. Instructions subsequent to the special register write instruction are examined for both explicit and implicit dependencies upon the special register write. If a dependency is detected with respect to a particular instruction, the instruction is dispatched to a reservation station along with an indication of the dependency. Instructions subsequent to the special register write instruction which are not dependent upon the special register are dispatched without an indication of special register dependency. Instructions without dependencies may speculatively execute prior to instructions with dependencies, or even prior to the special register write instruction. In one particular embodiment employing the x86 microprocessor architecture, the microprocessor detects updates to the DS, ES, FS, and GS segment registers (i.e. the data segment registers). Updates to other segment registers are serialized.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4044338 (1977-08-01), Wolf
patent: 4453212 (1984-06-01), Gaither et al.
patent: 4807115 (1989-02-01), Torng
patent: 4858105 (1989-08-01), Kuriyama et al.
patent: 5226126 (1993-07-01), McFarland et al.
patent: 5226130 (1993-07-01), Favor et al.
patent: 5497499 (1996-03-01), Garg et al.
patent: 5524263 (1996-06-01), Griffith et al.
patent: 5590352 (1996-12-01), Zuraski et al.
Intel, "Chapter 2: Microprocessor Architecture Overview," pp. 2-1 through 2-4.
Michael Slater "AMD's K5 Designed to Outrun Pentium," Microprocessor Report, vol. 8, No. 14, Oct. 24, 1994, 7 pages.
Sebastian Rupley and John Clyman, "P6: The Next Step?," PC Magazine, Sep. 12, 1995, 16 pages.
Tom R. Halfhill, "AMD K6 Takes On Intel P6," BYTE, Jan. 1996, 4 pages.
Gwennap, Linley, p6 underperforms on 16 bit software, Jul. 31, 1995, Microprocessor Report.
Johnson William M.
Mahalingaiah Rupaka
Tran Thang M.
Advanced Micro Devices , Inc.
Kivlin B. Noel
Treat William M.
Winder Patrice L.
LandOfFree
Apparatus and method for accessing special registers without ser does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Apparatus and method for accessing special registers without ser, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Apparatus and method for accessing special registers without ser will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-31521