Intel Corporation

Ves A Naydenov

Bret L Toll

Scott Dion Rodgers

Frank Binns

James S Coke

Peter J Ruscito

David B Jackson

Masood Tahir

A method, apparatus and system are disclosed for decoding an instruction in a variable-length instruction set. The instruction is one of a set of new types of instructions that uses a new escape code value, which is two bytes in length, to indicate that a third opcode byte includes the instruction-specific opcode for a new instruction. The new instructions are defined such the length of each instruction in the opcode map for one of the new escape opcode values may be determined using the same set of inputs, where each of the inputs is relevant to determining the length of each instruction in the new opcode map. For at least one embodiment, the length of one of the new instructions is determined without evaluating the instruction-specific opcode.

Length determination of instruction code with address form field and escape opcode value by evaluating portions other than instruction specific opcode

Determining length of instruction with address form field exclusive of evaluating instruction specific opcode in three byte escape opcode

Determining length of instruction with escape and addressing form bytes without evaluating opcode

Determining length of instruction with multiple byte escape code based on information from other than opcode byte

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Foslom, CA, United States of America

Ves A Naydenov