Abstract: An apparatus including first and second reservation stations. The first reservation station dispatches a load micro instruction, and indicates on a hold bus if the load micro instruction is a specified load micro instruction directed to retrieve an operand from a prescribed resource other than on-core cache memory. The second reservation station is coupled to the hold bus, and dispatches one or more younger micro instructions therein that depend on the load micro instruction for execution after a number of clock cycles following dispatch of the first load micro instruction, and if it is indicated on the hold bus that the load micro instruction is the specified load micro instruction, the second reservation station is configured to stall dispatch of the one or more younger micro instructions until the load micro instruction has retrieved the operand.

Abstract: Systems are provided for a “loadable module” architecture for industrial controllers in which new control program modules which provide updated functions or features may be loaded to extend or modify the underlying operating system and/or other services without updating the firmware and without disrupting or otherwise compromising the ability of the industrial controller to maintain continuous control over the controlled process. Control program modules and libraries may be delivered to the industrial controller in object code format and an embedded linker in the industrial controller may be used to efficiently create fully linked and executable files locally. Loadable libraries may be provided to the industrial controller during runtime to extend functionality and/or provide desired fixes. As a result, a system is provided that is more efficient and that enables significant flexibility in adding new capabilities.

Abstract: A method for reducing power consumption of a memory system and a memory controller are provided. The method for reducing power consumption of a memory system includes: determining whether a dynamic random access memory DRAM memory module with a low access frequency exists in a memory system; when a DRAM memory module with a low access frequency exists, transfer, according to a size of a working set in the memory system, page data that does not belong to the working set to a non-volatile memory NVM memory module, where the page data that does not belong to the working set is page data that does not need to be accessed when a process runs within preset time.