Saving and restoring architectural state for processor cores

Details Saving and restoring architectural state for processor cores Saving and restoring architectural state for processor cores

2011-08-09

2011-08-09

Coleman, Eric (Department: 2183)

Electrical computers and digital processing systems: processing

Processing control

Branching

C712S228000

Reexamination Certificate

active

07996663

ABSTRACT:
A method and apparatus for saving and restoring architectural states utilizing hardware is described. A first portion of an architectural state of a processing element, such as a core, is concurrently saved upon being updated. A remaining portion of the architectural state is saved to memory in response to a save state triggering event, which may include a hardware event or a software event. Once saved, the state is potentially transferred to another processing element, such as a second core. As a result, hardware, software, or combination thereof may transfer architectural states between multiple processing elements, such as threads or cores, of a processor utilizing hardware support.

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