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:
May. 09, 2006
Filed:
Jun. 06, 2000
Jeffrey Meng Wah Chan, Mountain View, CA (US);
Michael F. Deering, Los Altos, CA (US);
Jeffrey Meng Wah Chan, Mountain View, CA (US);
Michael F. Deering, Los Altos, CA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for performing fast clip-testing operations in a general purpose processor are provided. This is accomplished by executing a single instruction for comparing a first value x to a second value y and, as a result of the comparison, determining whether x is less than y and whether x is less than negative y. The values x and y are stored in respective source registers of the processor specified by the instruction. Finally, as a result of the determination, one or more binary values representing the results of the determination are inserted into a destination register of the processor also specified by the instruction. Accordingly, the invention advantageously provides a general purpose processor with the ability to execute a clip-testing function with a single instruction compared with prior art general purpose processors that require multiple instructions to perform the same function. Thus, the general purpose processor of the present invention allows for more efficient and faster clip-testing operations.