Patents by Inventor Thomas Luther Thomas, Jr.

Thomas Luther Thomas, Jr. 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).

  • Patent number: 5901307
    Abstract: A processor and method for speculatively executing a branch instruction are disclosed. The processor includes a branch prediction unit for predicting a resolution of a speculative branch instruction, which is selectively configurable such that resolution of the speculative branch instruction is predicted in response to only an address of the speculative branch instruction or in response to branch history of at least one previously executed branch instruction. The processor also includes an address calculation unit for determining a target address in response to the predicted resolution of the speculative branch instruction. In one embodiment, the processor further includes configuration logic for dynamically configuring the branch prediction logic.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 1996
    Date of Patent: May 4, 1999
    Assignees: International Business Machines Corporation, Motorola, Inc.
    Inventors: Terence Matthew Potter, Paul Charles Rossbach, Thomas Luther Thomas, Jr.
  • Patent number: 5794024
    Abstract: A method and system for dynamically recovering a lookahead register-address-table (RAT) in a processor that executes program instructions. Each instruction that updates a logical register address is assigned to a different physical register address. Each of the instructions to be processed by the processor are stored in a fifo queue. The physical register address assignments for each of the instructions are stored in a first RAT, and information regarding instructions that have completed execution by the processor are stored in a second RAT. The method and system further comprises storing the physical register address assignments for non-branch instructions from the fifo queue in a recovery RAT. The first RAT is then restored after an interrupt occurs by copying the second RAT into the recovery RAT and then copying the recovery RAT into the first RAT.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 1996
    Date of Patent: August 11, 1998
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Robert Thaddeus Golla, Thomas Alan Hoy, Christopher Hans Olson, Terence Matthew Potter, Thomas Luther Thomas, Jr.