Intel Corporation

National Semiconductor Corporation

Donald B Alpert

Gary N Hammond

Kevin C Kahn

Edward Thomas Grochowski

Robert S Dreyer

Jack D Mills

Harsh Sharangpani

Kenneth D Shoemaker

Konrad K Lai

John H Crawford

Harshvardhan P Sharangpani

Hans J Mulder

Uri C Weiser

Ahmad Zaidi

Dror Avnon

Ran Talmudi

Amos Ben-Meir

Reuven Avraham Marko

Gideon Intrater

Frederick J Pollack

Oved Oz

Mustafiz R Choudhury

Daniel G Lau

Alon Shacham

Mike J Tripp

Nimish H Modi

Tsu-Hua Wang

William M Corwin

A computer system is disclosed herein including a given microprocessor specifically designed to operate in a virtual operating mode that allows a software program previously written for an earlier designed single program microprocessor to execute in a protected, paged, multi-tasking environment under a particularly designed host operating software program. The system also includes means for executing software interrupt (INTn) instructions, using emulation software forming part of the host program in order to emulate the way in which these instructions would have been executed by the earlier microprocessor. As a unique improvement to this overall computer system, certain ones of the INTn instructions are executed by means of emulation software while others are executed by means of the previously written program in cooperation with the given microprocessor and its host operating software program.

Computer system and method for executing interrupt instructions in two operating modes

An article representing a processor providing event handling functionality is described. According to one embodiment of the invention, the article includes a machine readable medium storing data representing a processor including an instruction set unit and an event handling unit, as well as a first plurality of event handlers that includes a first event handler. The instruction set unit is to support a first and second instruction sets. Problems that arise during the processing of instructions from the first and second unit are to cause the article to execute the appropriate one of the first plurality of event handlers. At least some of the first set of events are mapped to different ones of the first plurality of event handlers. All of the second set of events are mapped to the first event handler.

Article for providing event handling functionality in a processor supporting different instruction sets

Method And Apparatus for Providing Event Handling Functionality in a Computer System. According to one embodiment of the invention, a computer system includes an instruction set unit and an event handling unit in a processor, as well as a first plurality of event handlers that includes a first event handler. The instruction set unit is to support a first and second instruction sets. Problems that arise during the processing of instructions from the first and second unit is to cause the processor to execute the appropriate one of the first plurality of event handlers. At least some of the first set of events are mapped to different ones of the first plurality of event handlers. All of the second set of events are mapped to the first event handler.

Method and apparatus for providing event handling functionality in a computer system

A computer system including a given microprocessor specifically designed to operate in a virtual operating mode allows a software program previously written for an earlier designed single program microprocessor to execute in a protected, paged, multi-tasking environment under a particularly designed host operating software program. The system also includes means for executing software interrupt (INTn) instructions, using emulation software forming part of the host program in order to emulate the way in which these instructions would have been executed by the earlier microprocessor. As a unique improvement to this overall computer system, certain ones of the INTn instructions are executed by means of emulation software while others are executed by means of the previously written program in cooperation with the given microprocessor and its host operating software program.

Computer system and method for executing interrupt instructions in operating modes

A Method and Apparatus for Providing Memory Management and Event Handling Functionality in a Computer System. According to one embodiment of the invention, a processor comprises an instruction set unit, a segmentation unit, and a paging unit. The instruction set unit is to support a first and second instruction sets. The segmentation unit is coupled to the instruction set unit to translate virtual addresses used by the first instruction set into translated addresses. The paging unit is coupled to the instruction set unit to translate both virtual addresses used by the second instruction set and the translated addresses into physical addresses. According to another embodiment of the invention, a computer system includes an instruction set unit and an event handling unit in a processor, as well as a first plurality of event handlers that includes a first event handler. The instruction set unit is to support a first and second instruction sets. Problems that arise during the processing of instructions from the first and second instruction sets respectively causes a first and second set of events. The event handling unit is to cause the processor to execute the appropriate one of the first plurality of event handlers. At least some of the first set of events are mapped to different ones of the first plurality of event handlers. All of the second set of events are mapped to the first event handler.

Address translation with/bypassing intermediate segmentation translation to accommodate two different instruction set architecture

A method and apparatus for providing breakpoints on a selectable address range. The apparatus generally includes a processor including a first storage area, a second storage area, a circuit and an execution unit. The first storage area has stored therein a first address, while the second storage area has stored therein a mask. The first address and the mask define an address range. In response to receiving a second address, the circuit accesses the first address stored in the first storage area and the mask stored in the second storage area. The circuit transmits a signal to cause a debug event if the second address is within the address range defined by the first address and the mask.

Method and apparatus for providing breakpoints on a selectable address

An apparatus for use in a computer system comprises a first storage area and a circuit, coupled to the first storage area, configured to perform a comparison of a data element A with a data element B. In response to a single instruction, the circuit performs the comparison and outputs a condition field of at least one bits when the comparison of A and B is TRUE, or else the circuit outputs the ones-complement of the condition field when the comparison of A and B is FALSE. The circuit may be used in conjunction with a sequence of instructions to select bits from a first data element and bits from a second data element using the one or more condition field bits.

Conditional move using a compare instruction generating a condition field

A multi-level identification apparatus and method for providing at least two types of identification information, including a first type for identifying the origin of a microprocessor and the number of levels of identification information available, and a second type for identifying a family, a model, a stepping ID, and features of a microprocessor. The apparatus includes a first memory element for storing an indicia string that identifies the origin of the microprocessor. The apparatus also includes a second memory element for storing other microprocessor ID data including data fields for specifically identifying the microprocessor. The apparatus includes control logic for executing an ID instruction that reads the indicia string or the microprocessor ID data, dependent upon a preselected type. Whichever identification information is read, it is stored in one or more general purpose registers for selective reading by a programmer. The method is available at any time while the microprocessor is operating.

Apparatus and method for identifying the features and the origin of a

An address translator and a method for translating a linear address into a physical address for memory management in a computer is described herein. Different memory sizes, and different page sizes can be selected. The address translator can translate from a standard 32-bit linear address for compatibility with previous 32-bit architectures, and can also translate to a physical memory size with a larger physical address than linear address; i.e., greater than 32 bits (e.g. 36 bits and up), with no increase in access time. The address translator translates a linear address that includes an offset and a plurality of fields used to select entries in a plurality of tables. The format of the linear address into fields is dependent upon the selected memory size and the selected page size. For a large memory size, the tables include a directory pointer table that includes a group of directory pointers, a plurality of page table directories each of which includes a group of page directory entries, and a plurality of page tables each of which includes a group of page table entries. The size of the entries in the tables is dependent upon the selected memory size. The contents of the tables are stored in memory, and furthermore the pointer table is stored in both main memory and in dedicated pointer table registers.

Physical address size selection and page size selection in an address

An identification apparatus and method for identifying the microprocessor, including a read-only memory for storing microprocessor ID data having data fields for identifying the microprocessor, and control logic for executing an ID instruction that reads the microprocessor ID data from the read-only memory and stores it in a register that can be selectively read by a programmer. The identification apparatus and method also include an ID flag indicative of implementation of the ID instruction in the microprocessor, and a test flag program for testing the ID flag to determine whether or not to execute the ID instruction. The method is available at any time while the microprocessor is operating, for example during initialization of the system software, installation of a program, or while a program is running. Once a microprocessor has been identified, features appropriate to the specific microprocessor can be enabled, and work-around programs can be installed. The method prevents execution of the ID instruction on microprocessors that do not have the identification system, and prevents execution of the test flag program on microprocessors that do not have a test flag location. The invention is particularly useful for groups of compatible microprocessor families whose development is continually advancing with introduction of new families and models.

Apparatus and method using an ID instruction to identify a computer

A processor having two system configurations is provided. The apparatus generally includes an instruction set unit, a system unit, an internal bus, and a bus unit. The instruction set unit, the system unit, and the bus unit are coupled together by the internal bus. The system unit is capable of selectively operating in one of two system configurations. The first system configuration provides a first system architecture, while the second system configuration provides a second system architecture. The bus unit is used for sending and receiving signals from the instruction set unit and the system unit. According to another aspect of the invention, the instruction set unit is capable of selectively operating in one of two instruction set configurations. The first instruction set configuration provides for the execution of instruction belonging to a first instruction set, while the second instruction set configuration provides for the execution of instructions belonging to a second instruction set.

Method and apparatus for providing two system architectures in a

A technique for providing adaptive 128-bit load and store operations to support architecture extensions for computations on a 128-bit quadruple precision format, in which a single set of load and store instructions provides for save and restore operations on both 80-bit and 128-bit floating point register files. A 128-bit load and store instructions are utilized for moving values that are 128-bit aligned in memory. The transfer entails the movement of data between a 128-bit memory boundary and a floating point register file for register save and restore operations. In one embodiment, 80-bit registers are used and in a second embodiment 128-bit registers are used. The same instructions operate on both the 80-bit and 128-bit registers to map the content of a given register into a 128-bit boundary field in memory. A load/store unit allocates the bit positioning so that when 80-bit registers are used, the 80 bits are moved into the most significant bit positions of the 128-bit boundary field. The remaining bit positions are filled with 0s. When values are moved to memory the reverse operation is performed.

Adaptive 128-bit floating point load and store instructions for

A method and apparatus for providing address breakpoints, branch breakpoints, and single stepping is described. According to one aspect of the invention, a processor is provided which generally includes an execution unit, a first storage area, and an address breakpoint unit. The execution unit recognizes a first debug event in response to the execution of an instruction which causes a branch to be taken. The first storage area has stored therein information. The address breakpoint unit is coupled to the first storage area to receive the information. The address breakpoint unit is also coupled to the execution unit to receive addresses. The address breakpoint unit determines whether the addresses it receives form the execution unit are identified by the information. The execution unit recognizes a second debug event when the address breakpoint unit indicates one of these addresses is identified by the information.

Method and apparatus for providing address breakpoints, branch

Adaptive 128-bit floating point load and store operations for quadruple

An apparatus and method for improving the performance of pipelined computer processors which have segment bits for specifying the operand size, the address size for memory reference, and the stack size, and which can run self-modifying code. The processor predicts segment bits based on previously used segment bits. Actual segment bits are later determined during execution of an instruction. The predicted segment bits are compared with the actual segment bits, and the pipeline is flushed if they do not match. Also, an instruction verification method is provided to determine if self-modifying code has modified instructions already in the pipeline. Upon execution of a write instruction, each instruction address in the pipeline is compared with the write address. If a match is found, the pipeline is flushed.

Growing community of inventors

Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Donald B Alpert