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. 17, 2006
Filed:
Jul. 22, 2002
Hidetaka Magoshi, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Hidetaka Magoshi, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A method is provided for use in a processing pipeline operable to dispatch a plurality of instructions up to a first number of instructions per cycle to execution stages of the pipeline. According to such method, a skip instruction is decoded in a first cycle of the processing pipeline to determine a total number of subsequent instructions in the processing pipeline that are to be skipped. The skip instruction is executed in a second cycle. Subsequent instructions in the processing pipeline are prohibited from being executed, including prohibiting execution of a second number of instructions subsequent to the skip instruction in the second cycle, the second number being variable between zero and one less than the first number. Thereafter, if any subsequent instructions of the total number remain to be skipped, then a third number of instructions are prohibited from being executed in a third cycle subsequent to the second cycle, the third number being variable up to the lesser of: the number of subsequent instructions which remain to be skipped and the first number.