Method and apparatus for providing memory access in a processor

Details Method and apparatus for providing memory access in a processor Method and apparatus for providing memory access in a processor

1995-12-20

1998-07-28

Elmore, Reba I.

Boots, shoes, and leggings

395394, 395562, 395563, G06F 9302, G06F 938

Patent

active

057870268

ABSTRACT:
The invention provides a method and apparatus for providing operand reads in a processor pipeline. According to one aspect of the invention, a method is described for executing an instruction in a computer pipeline that requires different operands be read from the same register file in different stages of the computer pipeline. According to another aspect of the invention, a method is described for executing an instruction in a processor pipeline. According to this method, at least a first operand is read from a register file in a first stage of the processor pipeline. If execution of the instruction causes the processor to place the first operand in a storage area other than the register file, then the first operand in written to that storage area in a subsequent stage of the processor pipeline. Otherwise, one or more ALU operations are performed on the first operand and at least a second operand in a different subsequent stage of the processor pipeline.

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