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:
Jul. 24, 2001
Filed:
Mar. 04, 1999
David Bistry, Cupertino, CA (US);
Larry Mennemeier, Boulder Creek, CA (US);
Alexander D. Peleg, Haifa, IL;
Carole Dulong, Saratoga, CA (US);
Eiichi Kowashi, Ryugasaki, JP;
Millind Mittal, South San Francisco, CA (US);
Benny Eitan, Haifa, IL;
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A method in a computer system which includes receiving a first instruction which indicates indicates termination of execution of instructions which operate upon packed data stored in a first storage area. The first storage area is used for modifying data responsive to execution of floating point instructions. A plurality of tags is associated with the first storage area indicating that locations in the first storage area are either empty or non-empty responsive to the execution of the floating point instructions which modify data contained in the first storage area. Responsive to the receiving of the first instruction which indicates termination of execution of instructions which operate upon the packed data stored in the first storage area, the method sets only the plurality of tags to an empty state. In different embodiments, setting of the plurality of tags to a non-empty state occurs responsive to receiving a second instruction. The second instruction (or instructions) specifies an operation upon packed data stored in the first storage area. The setting of the plurality of tags indicates execution of instructions which operate upon the packed data. This method advantageously provides a means for clearing the packed data state at the end of blocks of packed data instructions to leave the floating point state in a clear condition for subsequent operations (e.g. floating point calculations).