Other

Transmeta Corporation

Zilog, Inc.

John P Banning

Guillermo Juan Rozas

H Peter Anvin

Linus Torvalds

Brett Coon

Alexander Klaiber

Robert Bedichek

Jason Burke Wilson

Andrew M Shaw

Eric Hao

David Pardo Keppel

Malcolm J Wing

Brian Choy

Patrick Gainer

David A Dunn

Paul S Serris

Robert Paul Masleid

Richard A Carberry

Alex Klaiber

Benjamin Gribstad

James Van Zoeren

Robert Bedicheck

A method for caching attribute data for matching attributes with physical addresses. The method includes storing a plurality of attribute entries in a memory, wherein the memory is configured to provide at least one attribute entry when accessed with a physical address, and wherein the attribute entry provided describes characteristics of the physical address.

Method and system for caching attribute data for matching attributes with physical addresses

A method and system of instruction modification. A first machine language instruction, which may comprise a plurality of discrete instructions, is fetched. Responsive to a trigger pattern in the first machine language instruction, a segment of the first machine language instruction is modified. Information can be substituted into the segment based on specifics outlined in the trigger pattern. Alternatively, information can be combined with the segment via logical and/or arithmetic operations. Modification of the segment produces a second machine language instruction that is executed by units of the processor. In one embodiment, information may be taken from a queue and used to replace data from the segment. How information is taken from the queue and how the information so taken is used to replace fields of the segment are defined by the trigger pattern.

System and method of instruction modification

Systems and methods for history based pipelined branch prediction. In one example, access to prediction information to predict a plurality of branches within an instruction block is initiated in a same clock cycle of the computer processor as a fetch of the instruction block. The prediction information may be available to the predictor not later than a clock cycle of the computer processor in which the plurality of branches are decoded.

History based pipelined branch prediction

In one embodiment, after translating a plurality of target instructions from a target memory location into a plurality of host instructions, a write operation to a target memory portion which includes said target memory location is detected. In response to the detecting, a copy of the target instructions is stored in a host memory. In response to an attempt to execute the host instructions, the copy is compared with a plurality of current target instructions presently stored in the target memory location. Further, in response to a mismatch based on the comparison, the host instructions are disabled.

Consistency checking of source instruction to execute previously translated instructions between copy made upon occurrence of write operation to memory and current version

Checking for instruction invariance to execute previously obtained translation code by comparing instruction to a copy stored when write operation to the memory portion occur

Systems and methods for history based pipelined branch prediction. In one embodiment, access to prediction information to predict a plurality of branches within an instruction block is initiated in a same clock cycle of the computer processor as a fetch of the instruction block. The prediction information may be available to the predictor not later than a clock cycle of the computer processor in which the plurality of branches are decoded.

A method and apparatus for storing and retrieving data in an N-way set associative cache with N data array banks is disclosed. On a cache fill corresponding to a particular way, a portion of each cache line (called a chunk) is placed in each data array bank. On a processor load seeking a requested chunk, a candidate chunk is retrieved from each data array bank and the requested chunk is selected from among the candidates.

Braided set associative caching techniques

Dynamic translation of indirect branch instructions of a target application by a host processor is enhanced by including a cache to provide access to the addresses of the most frequently used translations of a host computer, minimizing the need to access the translation buffer. Entries in the cache have a host instruction address and tags that may include a logical address of the instruction of the target application, the physical address of that instruction, the code segment limit to the instruction, and the context value of the host processor associated with that instruction. The cache may be a software cache apportioned by software from the main processor memory or a hardware cache separate from main memory.

Method and system for storing and retrieving a translation of target program instruction from a host processor using fast look-up of indirect branch destination in a dynamic translation system

In a computer which translates instructions from a target instruction set to a host instruction set, a method for determining validity of a translation of a target instruction linked to an earlier translation including the steps of testing a memory address of a target instruction to be executed against a copy of the memory address of the target instruction from which a translation of the target instruction was made, executing the translation if the addresses compare, and generating an exception if the addresses do not compare.

Interpage prologue to protect virtual address mappings

A method of translating instructions from a target instruction set to a host instruction set. In one embodiment, a plurality of first target instructions is translated into a plurality of first host instructions. After the translation, it is determined whether the plurality of first target instructions has changed. A copy of a second plurality of target instructions is stored and compared with the plurality of first target instructions if the determining slows the operation of the computer system. After comparing, the plurality of first host instructions is invalidated if there is a mismatch. According to one embodiment, the storing, the comparing and the invaliding is initiated when the determining indicates that a page contains at least one change to the plurality of first target instructions. In one embodiment, the determining is by examining a bit indicator associated with a memory location of the plurality of first target instructions.

Growing community of inventors

Sunnyvale, CA, United States of America

John P Banning