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:
Apr. 15, 2003
Filed:
Nov. 04, 1999
Joel Roger Davidson, Austin, TX (US);
Hung Oui Le, Austin, TX (US);
Alexander Erik Mericas, Austin, TX (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A method and system for detecting flushed instructions without a flush indicator is provided. In order to monitor the flushing of an instruction in an instruction pipeline of a processor, an instruction is selected as a sampled instruction and the progress of the sampled instruction through the instruction pipeline is monitored. Upon selection of an instruction as a sampled instruction, a countdown value is initialized to a value equal to the maximum number of instructions within the instruction pipeline, and as instructions complete, the countdown value is decremented. If progress of the sampled instruction is detected as the instruction moves through the instruction pipeline, the countdown value is reinitialized. If the countdown value reaches zero, then a flush of the sampled instruction from the instruction pipeline is presumed, and an indication that the sampled instruction has been flushed is generated. In response to the indication that the sampled instruction has been flushed, a subsequent instruction may be selected as a subsequently sampled instruction.