Abstract: Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for providing concurrent exception handling. When one or more exceptions are received from concurrent workers, one or more exception handler functions are supplied. For each respective exception in the exception results, determine if the respective exception is one of a kind of exceptions handled by the one or more exception handler functions. If the respective exception is one of a kind handled by the exception handler functions, then run a particular handler of the exception handler functions and mark the respective exception as handled. Any unhandled exceptions are then processed appropriately. In one implementation, a collection of input data is processed to produce a collection of output results, with the exceptions being interleaved with other output results. In another implementation, a particular exception is selected that represents the multiple exceptions. The selected one particular exception is then thrown.

Abstract: A method for implementing a stream processing computer architecture includes creating a stream computer processing (SCP) system by forming a super node cluster of processors representing physical computation nodes (“nodes”), communicatively coupling the processors via a local interconnection means (“interconnect”), and communicatively coupling the cluster to an optical circuit switch (OCS), via optical external links (“links”). The OCS is communicatively coupled to another cluster of processors via the links. The method also includes generating a stream computation graph including kernels and data streams, and mapping the graph to the SCP system, which includes assigning the kernels to the clusters and respective nodes, assigning data stream traffic between the kernels to the interconnection when the data stream is between nodes in the same cluster, and assigning traffic between the kernels to the links when the data stream is between nodes in different clusters.

Abstract: Disclosed is a mixed mode parallel processor system in which N number of processing elements PEs, capable of performing SIMD operation, are grouped into M (=N÷S) processing units PUs performing MIMD operation. In MIMD operation, P out of S memories in each PU, which S memories inherently belong to the PEs, where P<S, operate as an instruction cache. The remaining memories operate as data memories or as data cache memories. One out of S sets of general-purpose registers, inherently belonging to the PEs, directly operates as a general register group for the PU. Out of the remaining S?1 sets, T set or a required number of sets, where T<S?1, are used as storage registers that store tags of the instruction cache.

Abstract: A reconfigurable circuit and control method therefor, capable of enhancing efficiency of implementation of a pipeline process in processing elements and improve processing performance. Processing elements are reconfigured to form a circuit based on configuration information and execute a prescribed process. Memory units store configuration information for the processing elements. A memory switching unit switches the plurality of memory units to store therein the configuration information on the stages of a pipeline process to be performed by the processing elements. A configuration information output unit switches the memory units to output therefrom the configuration information to the plurality of processing elements.

Abstract: A process which automatically inserts commands that test for and raise exceptions indicating floating point status exceptions into a sequence of instructions to be executed, re-ordering a pipelined instructions by moving a floating point instruction from after a branch instruction to before the branch instruction, and responds to exceptions in execution of the sequence of instructions by returning execution to a point in the sequence of instructions at which correct state is known and then executing each instruction in the sequence singly to completion so that exceptions in pipelined floating point instructions can be automatically-detected and handled precisely.

Abstract: A program execution control device which controls execution of a program by a processor having a predicate function for conditional execution of an instruction, wherein the program includes a branch instruction to control iterations in loop processing, the branch instruction is further an instruction to generate an execute-or-not condition indicating whether or not the branch instruction is to be executed at an iteration in the loop processing after a current iteration, and to reflect the execute-or-not condition on a predicate flag used for conditional execution of the branch instruction, the program execution control device comprises a processor status changing unit configured to change, before an execution cycle of the branch instruction, a status of the processor in advance for execution of an instruction following the branch instruction, the status being changed based on the execute-or-not condition reflected on the predicate flag.

Abstract: A method of managing an instruction cache and a process of using the method are provided. The processor may comprise a processor core which is operated either during an active mode or during an inactive mode wherein the process core performs at least one instruction during the active mode, an instruction cache which pre-traces a first instruction and determines, during the inactive mode, whether the processor core will meet a cache miss with regard to the first instruction, wherein the first instruction is to be performed by the processor core during the active mode, a coarse-grained array which performs a second instruction during the inactive mode, and a configuration memory which stores configuration information of the coarse-grained array, wherein the coarse-grained array performs the second instruction using the configuration information.

Abstract: A computing and communication chip architecture is provided wherein the interfaces of processor access to the memory chips are implemented as a high-speed packet switched serial interface as part of each chip. In one embodiment, the interface is accomplished through a gigabit Ethernet interface provided by protocol processor integrated as part of the chip. The protocol processor encapsulates the memory address and control information like Read, Write, number of successive bytes etc, as an Ethernet packet for communication among the processor and memory chips that are located on the same motherboard, or even on different circuit cards. In one embodiment, the communication over head of the Ethernet protocol is further reduced by using an enhanced Ethernet protocol with shortened data frames within a constrained neighborhood, and/or by utilizing a bit stream switch where direct connection paths can be established between elements that comprise the computing or communication architecture.

Abstract: Executing MIMD programs on a SIMD machine, including establishing SIMD partitions on the SIMD machine; booting SIMD partitions in MIMD mode; executing MIMD programs on the compute nodes of a first SIMD partition booted in MIMD mode; re-executing a launcher program by an operating system on a compute node in the first SIMD partition booted in MIMD mode upon termination of the MIMD program executed by the launcher program; determining by a scheduler that the first SIMD partition booted in MIMD mode is required to establish a new SIMD partition large enough to run a SIMD program that is scheduled for execution; moving by the scheduler data processing operations from the first SIMD partition booted in MIMD mode to the second SIMD partition booted in MIMD mode; and establishing by the scheduler the new SIMD partition.

Abstract: A circuit arrangement and method support instruction target history based register address indexing, whereby register addresses to be used by an instruction are decoded using a target history table of previous target register addresses, and an index into the target history table supplied by an index value in the instruction. An instruction may include at least one index value that identifies a previously used register address. During execution of the instruction, the index is retrieved from the instruction, and then a register address is retrieved from the target history table using the index.

Abstract: A method includes providing a data processor having an instruction pipeline, where the instruction pipeline has a plurality of instruction pipeline stages, and where the plurality of instruction pipeline stages includes a first instruction pipeline stage and a second instruction pipeline stage. The method further includes providing a data processor instruction that causes the data processor to perform a first set of computational operations during execution of the data processor instruction, performing the first set of computational operations in the first instruction pipeline stage if the data processor instruction is being executed and a first mode has been selected, and performing the first set of computational operations in the second instruction pipeline stage if the data processor instruction is being executed and a second mode has been selected.

Abstract: Operand vector multiplexer sequence control is used in a vector-based execution unit to control the shuffling of data elements in operand vectors used by a sequence of vector instructions processed by the vector-based execution unit. A swizzle sequence instruction is defined in an instruction set for the vector-based execution unit and is used to selectively apply a sequence of vector data element shuffle orders to one or more operand vectors to be used by the associated sequence of vector instructions. As a result, when a common sequence of data element shuffle orders is used frequently for a sequence of vector instructions, a single swizzle sequence instruction may be used to select the desired sequence of custom data element ordering for each of the vector instructions in the sequence.

Abstract: Provided is a data processing circuit. A control unit outputs an operation control signal and a memory control signal. A plurality of program memories each outputs a command in response to the memory control signal. A plurality of arithmetic sections each selectively performs any one of the commands from the plurality of program memories in response to the operation control signal. Operation modes of the data processing circuit can be flexibly changed according to operation environments.

Abstract: A coprocessor (14) may be used to perform one or more specialized operations that can be off-loaded from a primary or general purpose processor (12). It is important to allow efficient communication and interfacing between the processor (12) and the coprocessor (14). In one embodiment, a coprocessor (14) generates and provides instructions (200, 220) to an instruction pipe (20) in the processor (12). Because the coprocessor (14) generated instructions are part of the standard instruction set of the processor (12), cache (70) coherency is easy to maintain. Also, circuitry (102) in coprocessor (14) may perform an operation on data while circuitry (106) in coprocessor (14) is concurrently generating processor instructions (200, 220).

Abstract: A microprocessor REP MOVS macroinstruction specifies the word length of the string in the IA-32 ECX register. The microprocessor includes a memory, configured to store a first and second sequence of microinstructions. The first sequence conditionally transfers control to a microinstruction within the first sequence based on the ECX register. The second sequence does not conditionally transfer control based on the ECX register. The microprocessor includes an instruction translator, coupled to the memory. In response to a macroinstruction that moves an immediate value into the ECX register, the instruction translator sets a flag and saves the immediate value. In response to a macroinstruction that modifies the ECX register in a different manner, the translator clears the flag. In response to a REP MOVS macroinstruction, the instruction translator transfers control to the first sequence if the flag is clear; and transfers control to the second sequence if the flag is set.

Abstract: There is disclosed a processing apparatus including, as an instruction set, a complex conditional branch instruction, and a condition setting instruction. The complex conditional branch instruction is an instruction for performing comparison operation for one or each of a plural number of conditions, and for performing branching to a branch target specified, based on comparison operation between the results of the comparison operations performed and the branching condition value specified. The condition setting instruction is an instruction for setting the condition.

Abstract: When an instruction code “MVLR” is sent from a control processor in a PE having a mask register MR in operation setting, when the direction register F is ON, if a counter and transfer result storing buffer T is ?M, a value of T?M is stored in buffer T, and if T is less than M, content of a first transport register L of a PE whose PE number counted from the left inside a PE block is T, is selected by a first selector and stored in buffer T and the mask register is set to non-operation. When the direction register is OFF, if T is ??M, a value of T+M is stored in buffer T, and if T is greater than ?M, content of R of a PE whose PE number is ?T, counted from the right inside the PE block, is selected by a second selector and stored in buffer T, and MR is set to non-operation. Entire PEs transfer content of L and R to M-adjacent left and right PEs, and data transferred from M-adjacent right and M-adjacent left PEs are stored in L and R respectively.

Abstract: A mechanism for performing dynamic request routing based on broadcast source request information is provided. Each processor chip in the system may use a synchronized heartbeat signal it generates to provide source request information to each of the other processor chips in the system. The source request information identifies the number of active source requests sent by the processor chip that originated the heartbeat signal. The source request information from each of the processor chips in the system may be used by the processor chips in determining optimal routing paths for data from a source processor chip to a destination processor chip. As a result, the congestion of data for processing at each of the processor chips along each possible routing path may be taken into account when selecting to which processor chip to forward data.

Abstract: Provided is a parallel processor for supporting a floating-point operation. The parallel processor has a flexible structure for easy development of a parallel algorithm involving multimedia computing, requires low hardware cost, and consumes low power. To support floating-point operations, the parallel processor uses floating-point accumulators and a flag for floating-point multiplication. Using the parallel processor, it is possible to process a geometric transformation operation in a 3-dimensional (3D) graphics process at low cost. Also, the cost of a bus width for instructions can be minimized by a partitioned Single-Instruction Multiple-Data (SIMD) method and a method of conditionally executing instructions.

Abstract: A semiconductor device includes a plurality of processing clusters that operate synchronously internally and arranged in a M×N matrix. Each processing cluster is formed as a plurality of processing elements and clocked buses that interconnect the processing elements within each processing cluster. A self-synchronous cluster wrapper is operative with the processing elements such that each processing cluster forms a programmable module. Self-synchronous global and local buses interconnect the processing clusters for communicating externally. An input/output circuit interconnects the global and local buses.