Jonathan Ferguson

Title: Jonathan Ferguson: Processor and Repeat-Cache Innovation.

Introduction

Jonathan Ferguson is an inventor associated with Bristol, Great Britain, and Graphcore Limited. His patent work concerns processor architecture and the repeated execution of cached code.

Latest Patents

Ferguson is credited with 1 patent: “Repeat instruction for loading and/or executing code in a claimable repeat cache a specified number of times.” The patent describes a processor with a barrel-threaded execution unit that runs concurrent threads and a repeat cache shared between them. A repeat instruction supplies a count that determines how many times cached code is executed. When the cache is unclaimed, code from one thread can be loaded into it and executed repeatedly; a subsequent thread can then execute that cached code the number of times specified by its own repeat instruction.

Career Highlights

Ferguson’s listed patent reflects work on improving code reuse in processors that handle concurrent threads. The shared, claimable repeat cache is designed to let multiple threads execute cached code without repeatedly loading the same portion from elsewhere.

Collaborations

Ferguson is associated with Graphcore Limited. His listed coworkers include Alan Graham Alexander and Simon Christian Knowles.

Conclusion

Jonathan Ferguson’s patent highlights a processor innovation that uses a shared repeat cache to support counted execution of code across concurrent threads.