Apparatus and method for converting floating point data formats

Details Apparatus and method for converting floating point data formats Apparatus and method for converting floating point data formats

1988-12-22

1990-08-14

Malzahn, David H.

Boots, shoes, and leggings

G06F 738

Patent

active

049492918

ABSTRACT:
An apparatus and method for converting the format of the exponent portion of a biased floating point number in a microprocessor is disclosed. The present invention allows a conversion to be performed as the data is being loaded. Decoding circuitry first determines when floating point data is about to be loaded. A constant, which corresponds to the type of conversion to be performed, is then generated from a ROM. The data and constant are added and the result, representing the converted exponent is stored in an exponent resister within one clock period.

REFERENCES:
patent: 3872442 (1975-03-01), Boles et al.
patent: 4701746 (1987-10-01), Veda et al.
patent: 4831575 (1989-05-01), Kuroda
Murray, "Mapping to Symmetrically Extend the Exponent Range of Floating-Point Arithmetic" IBM Tech. Disclosure Bulletin vol. 17, No. 1, Jun. 1974 pp. 1-4 364/748.
"80387 Programmer's Reference Manual"; Intel Corporation; 1987; Chapters 1, 2, 3, Appendix E, & Table of Contents.

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