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:
Jan. 08, 2002
Filed:
Dec. 29, 1998
Wan Lin Leung, Raleigh, NC (US);
Frank Cassatt Harwood, Raleigh, NC (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A method and system in a superscalar data processing system are disclosed for the efficient processing of an instruction by moving only pointers to data. Multiple instructions in the superscalar data processing system are processed during a single clock cycle. A determination is made whether one of these instructions is a particular type of instruction which specifies data to be moved or copied from a logical origination location to a logical destination location during processing of the instruction. In response to a determination that the instruction is a particular type of instruction, a first pointer field is established associated with the instruction for associating a pointer stored in the first pointer field with the logical origination location. A second pointer field is also established associated with the instruction for associating a pointer stored in the second pointer field with the logical destination location. A first pointer is associated with the instruction and identifies a physical location wherein the data is stored. In response to the first pointer being stored in the first pointer field, the logical destination location is associated with the physical location. The instruction is processed by storing the first pointer in the second pointer field. The logical destination location becomes associated with the physical location, such that the data remains in its original physical location during processing of the instruction.