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. 27, 2004
Filed:
Feb. 28, 2002
Moataz A Mohamed, Irvine, CA (US);
Chien-Wei Li, Mission Viejo, CA (US);
John R. Spence, Villa Park, CA (US);
Mindspeed Technologies, Inc., Newport Beach, CA (US);
Abstract
An apparatus and method for issue grouping of instructions in a VLIW processor is disclosed. There can be one, two, or three issue groups (but no greater than three issue groups) in each VLIW packet. In one embodiment, a template in the VLIW packet comprises two issue group end markers where each issue group end marker comprises three bits. The three bits in the first issue group end marker identifies the instruction which is the last instruction in the first issue group. Likewise, the three bits in the second issue group end marker identifies the instruction which is the last instruction in the second issue group. Any instructions in the VLIW packet falling outside the two expressly defined first and second issue groups are placed in a third issue group. As such, three issue groups can be identified by use of the two issue group end markers. In one embodiment, the template of the VLIW packet includes a chaining bit. The chaining bit is used to “chain” instructions appearing after the last instruction of the last issue group of a first VLIW packet to the instructions in the first issue group of a second VLIW packet. In one embodiment, a mask generation logic along with other logic blocks are utilized to generate an appropriate mask. The generated mask is used to pass through instructions in a VLIW packet which belong to a same issue group for execution in a same clock cycle.