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. 21, 2012
Filed:
Dec. 02, 2004
John S. Yates, Jr., Needham, MA (US);
David L. Reese, Westborough, MA (US);
Paul H. Hohensee, Nashua, NH (US);
Stephen C. Purcell, Mountain View, CA (US);
Korbin S. Van Dyke, Sunol, CA (US);
John S. Yates, Jr., Needham, MA (US);
David L. Reese, Westborough, MA (US);
Paul H. Hohensee, Nashua, NH (US);
Stephen C. Purcell, Mountain View, CA (US);
Korbin S. Van Dyke, Sunol, CA (US);
ATI Technologies ULC, Markham, Ontario, CA;
Abstract
A computer has instruction pipeline circuitry capable of executing two instruction set architectures (ISA's). A binary translator translates at least a selected portion of a computer program from a lower-performance one of the ISA's to a higher-performance one of the ISA's. Hardware initiates a query when about to execute a program region coded in the lower-performance ISA, to determine whether a higher-performance translation exists. If so, the about-to-be-executed instruction is aborted, and control transfers to the higher-performance translation. After execution of the higher-performance translation, execution of the lower-performance region is reestablished at a point downstream from the aborted instruction, in a context logically equivalent to that which would have prevailed had the code of the lower-performance region been allowed to proceed.