Philips Electronics North America Corporation

Vijay K Mehra

Gerrit Ary Slavenburg

Yen C Lee

Yong H Cho

Pieter Sierd Van Der Meulen

Pieter Van Der Muelen

A multiport register file includes a first file unit having registers of a first width and a second file unite having registers of a second width. The second width being less than the first width. The first file unit accommodates data destined to be operands for functional units of a VLIW processor, or result data from those functional units. The second file unit accommodates guard bits for conditioning operation of those functional units.

Multiport register file to accommodate data of differing lengths

Custom operations are useable in processor systems for performing functions including multimedia functions. These custom operations enhance a system, such as PC system, to provide real-time multimedia capabilities while maintaining advantages of a special-purpose, embedded solution, i.e., low cost and chip count, and advantages of a general-purpose processor reprogramability. These custom operations work in a computer system which supplies input data having at least two operand data, performs operations on the operand data, and supplies result data to a destination register.

Method and apparatus for custom operations

Cost/performance of VLIW architecture is improved by reducing the number of slots in the instruction issue register.

VLIW processor with write control unit for allowing less write buses

A very long instruction word (VLIW) architecture describes a processor comprising multiple functional units operating in parallel. A very long instruction word contains a plurality of fields or issue slots for specifying which operations are to be performed by the functional units. Execution of an operation can be inhibited by a guard value specified in the issue slot. Instructions are dispatched in such a guarded VLIW architecture by routing one of a plurality of fields issued for a common functional unit based on the guard value. Thus, an instruction word may contain a greater number of issue slots than there are functional units.

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Freemont, CA, United States of America

Vijay K Mehra