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:
Aug. 21, 2007
Filed:
Feb. 07, 2005
Erik K. Norden, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Roger D. Arnold, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Robert E. Ober, San Jose, CA (US);
Neil S. Hastie, Gloucestershire, GB;
Erik K. Norden, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Roger D. Arnold, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Robert E. Ober, San Jose, CA (US);
Neil S. Hastie, Gloucestershire, GB;
Infineon Technologies AG, Neubiberg, DE;
Abstract
A variable length instruction pipeline includes optional expansion stages that can be included in the variable length instruction pipeline to avoid pipeline stalls. The expansion stages are removed from the variable length instruction pipeline when not needed to reduce the length of the pipeline, which reduces latency and other problems associated with long pipelines. For example, in one embodiment of the present invention, a variable length instruction pipeline includes a first pipeline stage, a first expansion stage, and a second pipeline stage. The second pipeline stage is configured to selectively receive instructions from the first pipeline stage or the first expansion stage if the first expansion stage holds an instruction.