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.

Date of Patent:
Apr. 13, 2004

Filed:

Feb. 22, 2000
Applicant:
Inventors:

James E McCormick, Jr., Fort Collins, CO (US);

Stephen R. Undy, Ft Collins, CO (US);

Donald Charles Soltis, Jr., Fort Collins, CO (US);

Assignee:
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 1/500 ; G06F 9/00 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 1/500 ; G06F 9/00 ;
Abstract

Disclosed is a computer architecture with single-syllable IP-relative branch instructions and long IP-relative branch instructions (IP=instruction pointer). The architecture fetches instructions in multi-syllable, bundle form. Single-syllable IP-relative branch instructions occupy a single syllable in an instruction bundle, and long IP-relative branch instructions occupy two syllables in an instruction bundle. The additional syllable of the long branch carries with it additional IP-relative offset bits, which when merged with offset bits carried in a core branch syllable provide a much greater offset than is carried by a single-syllable branch alone. Thus, the long branch provides for greater reach within an address space. Use of the long branch to patch IA-64 architecture instruction bundles is also disclosed. Such a patch provides the reach of an indirect branch with the overhead of a single-syllable IP-relative branch.


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