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:
Jun. 28, 2016
Filed:
Aug. 20, 2013
Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US);
James S. Blomgren, Austin, TX (US);
Terence M. Potter, Austin, TX (US);
Timothy A. Olson, Austin, TX (US);
Andrew M. Havlir, Austin, TX (US);
Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US);
Abstract
Instructions may require one or more operands to be executed, which may be provided from a register file. In the context of a GPU, however, a register file may be a relatively large structure, and reading from a register file may be energy and/or time intensive An operand cache may be used to store a subset of operands, and may use less power and have quicker access times than the register file. Selectors (e.g., multiplexers) may be used to read operands from the operand cache. Power savings may be achieved in some embodiments by activating only a subset of the selectors, which may be done by activators (e.g. flip-flops). Operands may also be concurrently provided to two or more locations via forwarding, which may be accomplished via a source selection unit in some embodiments. Operand forwarding may also reduce power and/or speed execution in one or more embodiments.