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. 10, 2010
Filed:
Aug. 03, 2004
David William Goodwin, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
David William Goodwin, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Tensilica, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
The present invention is directed to a system and method for adding programmer visible features to a microprocessor by using partially-explicit ISA constructs. The system includes a language for expressing the partially-explicit ISA constructs that describe VLIW instruction formats, slots, and operations. These partially-explicit instruction set constructs are used in conjunction with prior art instruction set constructs to describe a complete instruction set. The system also includes a method for converting a partially-explicit instruction set to an explicit instruction set, which can then be used as described in prior art processor generation systems to generate fully-pipelined micro-architectural implementations in the form of synthesizable HDL, and to generate software components for extending software development tools for the microprocessor. Because the partially-explicit instruction set constructs are easier to write, modify, and maintain than prior art instruction set constructs, the invention significantly simplifies the process of describing an instruction set.