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:
Feb. 02, 2010
Filed:
Feb. 04, 2005
Michael Gottlieb Jensen, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Darren M. Jones, Los Altos, CA (US);
Ryan C. Kinter, Sammamish, WA (US);
Sanjay Vishin, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Michael Gottlieb Jensen, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Darren M. Jones, Los Altos, CA (US);
Ryan C. Kinter, Sammamish, WA (US);
Sanjay Vishin, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
MIPS Technologies, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
A multithreading processor for concurrently executing multiple threads is provided. The processor includes an execution pipeline and a thread scheduler that dispatches instructions of the threads to the execution pipeline. The execution pipeline detects a stalling event caused by a dispatched instruction, and flushes the execution pipeline to enable instructions of other threads to continue executing. The execution pipeline communicates to the scheduler which thread caused the stalling event, and the scheduler stops dispatching instructions for the thread until the stalling condition terminates. In one embodiment, the execution pipeline only flushes the thread including the instruction that caused the event. In one embodiment, the execution pipeline stalls rather than flushing if the thread is the only runnable thread. In one embodiment, the processor includes skid buffers to which the flushed instructions are rolled back so the instruction fetch pipeline need not be flushed, only the execution pipeline.