International Business Machines Corporation

David S Walder

Dung Q Nguyen

Brian David Barrick

Susan Elizabeth Eisen

Michael Joseph Genden

Steven J Battle

Cliff Kucharski

Sundeep Chadha

David R Terry

Joshua W Bowman

Brandon R Goddard

Eula Faye Abalos Tolentino

Jerry Y Lu

Nasrin Sultana

Kenneth Lundy Ward

Jeffrey Carl Brownscheidle

Tu-An T Nguyen

Glenn Owen Kincaid

A computer system, processor, and method for processing information is disclosed that includes at least one computer processor, a register file associated with the at least one processor, preferably a condition register that stores status information, the register file having multiple locations for storing data, multiple ports to write data to and read data from the register file. The system or processor includes an execution area, and the processor is configured to read from all the read ports in a first cycle, and to read from all the read ports in a second cycle. In an embodiment, the execution area includes a staging latch to store data from a first cycle read operation, and in an aspect the computer system is configured to combine the data stored in the staging latch during a first read cycle with the data read from the second cycle.

Fused overloaded register file read to enable 2-cycle move from condition register instruction in a microprocessor

Recovering microprocessor logical register values by: partitioning a register mapper by logical register type; providing a plurality of recovery ports; assigning a logical register type to a recovery port; receiving a restore required instruction; and mapping SRB (save and restore buffer) values to the register mapper by logical register type.

Supporting speculative microprocessor instruction execution

Embodiments include systems, methods, and computer program products for using a multi-tier hang buster for detecting and breaking out of hang conditions in a processor. One method includes determining a plurality of actions available at each of a plurality of tiers used for breaking out of the hang condition in the processor. The method also includes, after detecting the hang condition on a first thread of the processor, performing one or more actions available at a first tier of the plurality of tiers to break out of the hang condition. The method further includes, after performing the one or more actions at the first tier and determining that the hang condition is still present, performing one or more actions available at one or more second tiers of the plurality of tiers to break out of the hang condition.

On-demand multi-tiered hang buster for SMT microprocessor

Embodiments relate to selection and execution of conditional branch instructions. A computer system is configured with a processing core, including an instruction fetch unit and an instruction sequence unit, operatively coupled to memory. The instruction fetch unit fetches instructions from instruction cache and searches the fetched instruction for any conditional branch instructions. For each conditional branch instruction, an associated confidence level assigned to the instruction is obtained. The instruction sequence unit dispatches conditional branch instructions with their confidence level to a branch issue queue (BRQ). In addition, the instruction sequence unit prioritizes the conditional branch instructions in the BRQ based on the assigned confidence level and age, and selects one of the conditional branch instructions. A branch execution unit is provided as part of the instruction fetch unit to execute the selected conditional branch instruction, followed by dynamically updated any related non-executed instructions in the BRQ.

Prioritization protocols of conditional branch instructions

Operation of a multi-slice processor that includes execution slices and load/store slices coupled via a results bus includes: receiving, by an execution slice, a producer instruction, including: storing, in an entry of an issue queue, the producer instruction; and storing, in a register, an issue queue entry identifier representing the entry of the issue queue in which the producer instruction is stored; receiving, by the execution slice, a source instruction, the source instruction dependent upon the result of the producer instruction, including: storing, in another entry of the issue queue, the source instruction and the issue queue entry identifier of the producer instruction; determining in dependence upon the issue queue entry identifier of the producer instruction that the producer instruction has issued from the issue queue; and responsive to the determination that the producer instruction has issued from the issue queue, issuing the source instruction from the issue queue.

Multi-slice processor issue of a dependent instruction in an issue queue based on issue of a producer instruction

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Austin, TX, United States of America

David S Walder