Broadcom Corporation

Broadcom Europe Limited

Alphamosaic Limited

Robert Swann

Stephen John Barlow

Timothy James Ramsdale

David Plowman

Neil Bailey

Nel Bailey

A processor core comprising an execution unit and a register file, said register file comprising a first plurality of registers accessible to a compiler generated code and a second plurality of registers which can not be accessed by a compiler generated code, whereby the registers of said second plurality of registers are accessible to a low level code.

Register file with separate registers for compiler code and low level code

Methods and systems for a tiled output mode for image sensors are disclosed and may comprise receiving tiled image data from an image sensor that generates output in a tiled format, and sequentially processing the received tiled image data. The received tiled image data may comprise a plurality of lines. A tile received from the image sensor may overlap at least one neighboring tile. The neighboring tiles may be above, below, to the left and/or to the right of the current tile. The size of the received tiled image data may vary dynamically, and may vary based on, for example, a compression format and/or a desired resolution of the image sensor. The method may also comprise generating the tiled image data from an image sensor, and sequentially processing the generated tiled image data.

Tiled output mode for image sensors

A vector processing system for executing vector instructions, each instruction defining multiple value pairs, an operation to be executed and a modifier, the vector processing system comprising a plurality of parallel processing units, each arranged to receive one of said pairs of values and, when selected, to implement an operation on said value pair to generate a result, each processing unit comprising at least one flag and being selectable in dependence on a condition defined by said at least one flag, wherein the modifier defines the condition under which the parallel processing unit is individually selected.

Vector processing system

A vector processing system for executing vector instructions, each instruction defining multiple pairs of values, an operation to be executed on each of said value pairs and a scalar modifier, the vector processing system comprising a plurality of parallel processing units, each arranged to receive one of said pairs of values and to implement the defined operation on said value pair to generate a respective result; and a scalar result unit for receiving the results of the parallel processing units and for using said results in a manner defined by the scalar modifier to generate a single output value for said instruction.

Described herein is a method and system for executing instructions. The system comprises a scalar unit for executing scalar instructions each defining a single value pair; a vector unit for executing vector instructions each defining multiple value pairs; and an instruction decoder for receiving a single stream of instructions including scalar instructions and vector instructions and operable to direct scalar instructions to the scalar unit and vector instructions to the vector unit. The vector unit can comprises a plurality of value processing units and a scalar result unit. The scalar unit can comprise a scalar register file. Communication between the vector unit and the scalar unit is enabled by allowing the vector unit to access the scalar register file and allowing the scalar unit to access output from the scalar result unit. The output of the scalar result unit may be based on the relative magnitudes of outputs from the plurality of value processing units.

Scalar result producing method in vector/scalar system by vector unit from vector results according to modifier in vector instruction

A method for transferring data, between a first device and second device in a core processor including a data cache, comprising the steps of, when said first device supports wide data transfer, and said transfer of data comprises a data write operation from said first device to said second device, writing said data to the second device without writing the data to said data cache.

Narrow/wide cache

A data processor comprising: a register memory comprising an array of memory cells extending in two dimensions, the cells being located on rows in the first dimension and columns in the second dimension, each cell being addressable by means of an instruction specifying a pair of coordinates that identify the row and column of the cell in the array; and a processing unit capable of executing instructions that operate on a plurality of memory cells in the register, the instructions identifying the plurality of cells by means of a first instruction part specifying a pair of coordinates that identify a first cell in the array, and a second instruction part that identifies the configuration of the plurality of cells relative to the first cell; the data processor being arranged to interpret a first form of second instruction part as specifying a first group of cells all of which are located in the same row but in different columns, and to interpret a second form of second instruction part as specifying a first group of cells all of which are located in the same column but in different rows.

Two dimensional data access in a processor

Described herein is a processor for executing instructions and a method therefor. The processor comprises a scalar unit for executing scalar instructions each defining a single value pair; a vector unit for executing vector instructions each defining multiple value pairs; and an instruction decoder for receiving a single stream of instructions including scalar instructions and vector instructions and operable to direct scalar instructions to the scalar unit and vector instructions to the vector unit. The vector unit can comprises a plurality of value processing units and a scalar result unit. The scalar unit can comprise a scalar register file. Communication between the vector unit and the scalar unit is enabled by allowing the vector unit to access the scalar register file and allowing the scalar unit to access output from the scalar result unit. The output of the scalar result unit may be based on the relative magnitudes of outputs from the plurality of value processing units.

Vector/scalar system with vector unit producing scalar result from vector results according to modifier in vector instruction

Described herein is a data processor that comprises a register memory and a processor unit. The processor unit simultaneously executes a single instruction on a plurality of operands in the register memory. The plurality of operands may be one or more contiguous regions. The contiguous regions may be specified as an address and a format such as a row, a column, or a neighborhood relative to the address.

Parallel processor executing an instruction specifying any location first operand register and group configuration in two dimensional register file

A data processor comprising: a register memory comprising an array of memory cells, each cell being addressable by means of an instruction specifying a pair of coordinates that identify the cell in the array.

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Cambridge, United Kingdom

Robert Swann