Patents by Inventor Brian J. Hickmann

Brian J. Hickmann has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20140181169
    Abstract: A mechanism for performing single-path floating-point rounding in a floating point unit is disclosed. A system of the disclosure includes a memory and a processing device communicably coupled to the memory. In one embodiment, the processing device comprises a floating point unit (FPU) to generate a plurality of status flags for a rounded value of a finite nonzero number. The plurality of status flags are generated based on the finite nonzero number without calculating the rounded value of the finite nonzero number. The plurality of status flags comprises an overflow flag and an underflow flag. The FPU determines whether a rounded value should be calculated for the finite nonzero number based on the plurality of status flags and whether the overflow flag is asserted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 21, 2012
    Publication date: June 26, 2014
    Inventors: WARREN E. FERGUSON, BRIAN J. HICKMANN, THOMAS D. FLETCHER
  • Publication number: 20140181464
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a processor includes an instruction decoder to decode a first instruction to gather data elements from memory, the first instruction having a first operand specifying a first storage location and a second operand specifying a first memory address storing a plurality of data elements. The processor further includes an execution unit coupled to the instruction decoder, in response to the first instruction, to read contiguous a first and a second of the data elements from a memory location based on the first memory address indicated by the second operand, and to store the first data element in a first entry of the first storage location and a second data element in a second entry of a second storage location corresponding to the first entry of the first storage location.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 26, 2012
    Publication date: June 26, 2014
    Inventors: Andrew T. Forsyth, Brian J. Hickmann, Jonathan C. Hall, Christopher J. Hughes
  • Publication number: 20140122554
    Abstract: In an embodiment, a fused multiply-add (FMA) circuit is configured to receive a plurality of input data values to perform an FMA instruction on the input data values. The circuit includes a multiplier unit and an adder unit coupled to an output of the multiplier unit, and a control logic to receive the input data values and to reduce switching activity and thus reduce power consumption of one or more components of the circuit based on a value of one or more of the input data values. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 31, 2012
    Publication date: May 1, 2014
    Inventors: Brian J. Hickmann, Dennis R. Bradford, Thomas D. Fletcher
  • Patent number: 8676871
    Abstract: A semiconductor chip is described having a functional unit that can execute a first instruction and execute a second instruction. The first instruction is an instruction that multiplies two operands. The second instruction is an instruction that approximates a function according to C0+C1X2+C2X22. The functional unit has a multiplier circuit. The multiplier circuit has: i) a first input to receive bits of a first operand of the first instruction and receive bits of a C1 term of the second instruction; ii) a second input to receive bits of a second operand of the first instruction and receive bits of a X2 term of the second instruction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2014
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Alex Pineiro, Thomas D. Fletcher, Brian J. Hickmann
  • Publication number: 20120079250
    Abstract: A semiconductor chip is described having a functional unit that can execute a first instruction and execute a second instruction. The first instruction is an instruction that multiplies two operands. The second instruction is an instruction that approximates a function according to C0+C1X2+C2X22. The functional unit has a multiplier circuit. The multiplier circuit has: i) a first input to receive bits of a first operand of the first instruction and receive bits of a C1 term of the second instruction; ii) a second input to receive bits of a second operand of the first instruction and receive bits of a X2 term of the second instruction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2010
    Publication date: March 29, 2012
    Inventors: Alex Pineiro, Thomas E. Fletcher, Brian J. Hickmann