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:
Jun. 24, 2003
Filed:
May. 17, 2000
Hedley James Francis, Weston Colville, GB;
Dominic Hugo Symes, Cherry Hinton, GB;
Arm Limited, Cambridge, GB;
Abstract
A data processing system for identifying the highest priority source signal from a plurality of signals each controlling the setting of a bit of a status word held within a status register using programmable mask words. The mask words are used in a branch search strategy to successively narrow the possibilities for the highest priority bit at each search level until a single bit within the status word is identified corresponding to the highest priority interrupt signal. The programmable masks may be programmed for a particular configuration of the priorities of the respective bits within the status word. The branch search strategy provides a reduced maximum interrupt latency and improved predictability in the interrupt latency.