The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 08, 2000
Filed:
Jun. 29, 1998
Michael L Wright, Raleigh, NC (US);
Kenneth Michael Key, Raleigh, NC (US);
Darren Kerr, Palo Alto, CA (US);
William E Jennings, Cary, NC (US);
Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
A system and technique facilitate fast context switching among processor complex stages of a pipelined processing engine. Each processor complex comprises a central processing unit (CPU) core having a plurality of internal context switchable registers that are connected to respective registers within CPU cores of the pipelined stages by a processor bus. The technique enables fast context switching by sharing the context switchable registers between upstream and downstream CPUs to, inter alia, force program counters into the downstream registers. In one aspect of the inventive technique, the system automatically reflects (shadows) the contents of an upstream CPU's context switchable registers at respective registers of a downstream CPU over the processor bus. In another aspect of the invention, the system redirects instruction execution by the downstream CPU to an appropriate routine based on processing performed by the upstream CPU.