Patents by Inventor Cedric Lichtenau

Cedric Lichtenau 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: 11269632
    Abstract: An instruction to convert data from a source data type to a target data type is obtained. The source data type is selected from one or more source data types supported by the instruction, and the target data type is selected from one or more target data types supported by the instruction. Based on a selected data type of the source data type or the target data type, a determination is made of a rounding mode for use by the instruction. The rounding mode is implicitly set based on the selected data type; it is assigned to the selected data type. A conversion of the data from the source data type to the target data type is performed. The conversion includes performing a rounding operation using the rounding mode implicitly set. The performing the conversion provides a result in the target data type, which is written to a select location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2022
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Laith M. AlBarakat, Jonathan D. Bradbury, Timothy Slegel, Cedric Lichtenau, Joachim von Buttlar
  • Patent number: 11256511
    Abstract: A method of performing instruction scheduling during execution in a processor includes receiving, at an execution unit of the processor, an initial assignment of an assigned execution resource among two or more execution resources to execute an operation. An instruction includes two or more operations. Based on determining that the assigned execution resource is not available, the method also includes determining, at the execution unit, whether another execution resource among the two or more execution resources is available to execute the operation. Based on determining that the other execution resource is available, the method further includes executing the operation with the other execution resource.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2022
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Cedric Lichtenau, Stefan Payer, Kerstin Claudia Schelm, Anthony Saporito, Gregory William Alexander
  • Patent number: 11175921
    Abstract: A method is provided. The method is executable by a processor. The method includes receiving, by an instruction issue unit of the processor as an input, a preferred instruction variant from an instruction variant selection logic. The method includes executing, by an execution unit of the processor, the preferred instruction variant. The method includes providing, by the execution unit of the processor, quality feedback to the instruction variant selection logic and evaluating, by the instruction variant selection logic of the processor, the preferred instruction variant based on the quality feedback.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 16, 2021
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Juergen Haess, Cedric Lichtenau, Stefan Payer, Kerstin C. Schelm
  • Patent number: 11099853
    Abstract: Digit validation check control for execution of an instruction. A process obtains an instruction to perform operation(s) using input value(s). The instruction includes a no validation indicator for controlling whether digit validation check control is enabled for execution of the instruction. The process executes the instruction, including determining, based on the no validation indicator, whether digit validation check control is enabled for execution of the instruction, and performing processing based on the determining. Based on the no validation indicator being set to a defined value, digit validation check control is enabled and the processing includes forcing a digit check error indicator output by the executing to indicate no digit check error with respect to the at least one input value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Cedric Lichtenau, Reid Copeland, Petra Leber, Silvia M. Mueller, Jonathan D. Bradbury, Xin Guo
  • Patent number: 11099602
    Abstract: A method includes obtaining a trigger signal directed to a component in a subset of components of an electronic circuit, and activating a clock corresponding with the subset of components of the electronic circuit for a preliminary period in response to the trigger signal. An active period is determined based on the trigger signal. The clock remains active for the active period. One of a timer or counter is initiated for the active period. A limit is defined for the one of the timer or counter. The active period is dynamically extended for a busy period after the one of the timer or counter is initiated. The clock is deactivated following the active period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Razvan Peter Figuli, Cedric Lichtenau, Stefan Payer, Michael Klein
  • Publication number: 20210232638
    Abstract: An instruction is provided for performing a vector string search. The instruction to be processed is obtained, with the instruction being defined to be a string search instruction to locate occurrence of a substring within a string. The instruction is processed, with the processing including searching the string specified in one operand of the instruction using the substring specified in another operand of the instruction. Based on the searching locating a first full match of the substring within the string, a full match condition indication is returned with position of the first full match in the string, and based on the searching locating only a partial match of the substring at a termination of the string, a partial match condition indication is returned, with the position of the partial match in the string.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 22, 2021
    Publication date: July 29, 2021
    Inventors: Cedric LICHTENAU, Jonathan D. BRADBURY, Eric M. SCHWARZ, Razvan Peter FIGULI, Stefan PAYER
  • Patent number: 11068541
    Abstract: An instruction is provided for performing a vector string search. The instruction to be processed is obtained, with the instruction being defined to be a string search instruction to locate occurrence of a substring within a string. The instruction is processed, with the processing including searching the string specified in one operand of the instruction using the substring specified in another operand of the instruction. Based on the searching locating a first full match of the substring within the string, a full match condition indication is returned with position of the first full match in the string, and based on the searching locating only a partial match of the substring at a termination of the string, a partial match condition indication is returned, with the position of the partial match in the string.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2021
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Cedric Lichtenau, Jonathan D. Bradbury, Eric M. Schwarz, Razvan Peter Figuli, Stefan Payer
  • Patent number: 11042371
    Abstract: A method for detecting faults in substring search operations includes providing, using a processor unit including vector registers of M vector elements each, an M×M matrix of comparators for characterwise comparison of the elements of a reference string stored in a first one of the vector registers and a target string stored in a second one of the vector registers. A vector element is an n-bit element for encoding a character. A resulting bit vector is generated using comparison performed by the M×M matrix. The resulting bit vector indicates characters of the target string that fully match the reference string and indicates characters of the target string that partially match the reference string. Fault detection in the substring search operations is performed by utilizing the resulting bit vector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2021
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Razvan Peter Figuli, Stefan Payer, Cedric Lichtenau, Kerstin Claudia Schelm
  • Patent number: 11023205
    Abstract: Negative zero control for execution of an instruction. A process obtains an instruction to perform operation(s) using an input value. The instruction includes a negative zero control indicator indicating whether negative zero control is enabled for execution of the instruction. The process executes the instruction, the executing including performing the operation(s) using the input value to obtain a result having a sign, determining whether to control the sign of the result, the determining being based at least in part on the negative zero control indicator being set to a defined value, and performing further processing, as part the executing the instruction, based on the determining.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Cedric Lichtenau, Reid Copeland, Petra Leber, Silvia M. Mueller, Jonathan D. Bradbury, Xin Guo
  • Patent number: 10996951
    Abstract: A method for detecting faults in substring search operations using a processor unit including vector registers of M vector elements each. A non-limiting example of the method includes providing an M×M matrix of comparators for characterwise comparison of the elements of a reference string and a target string. A first zero detect vector having value indicative of terminating element of the target string and a second zero detect vector having a value indicative of terminating element of the reference string are generated. A resulting bit vector is generated using comparison performed by the M×M matrix. The resulting bit vector indicates characters of the target string that fully match the reference string and indicate characters of the target string that partially match the reference string. Fault detection in the substring search operations is performed by comparing the generated zero detect vectors with operands.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2021
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Razvan Peter Figuli, Stefan Payer, Petra Leber, Cedric Lichtenau
  • Patent number: 10983159
    Abstract: A system, apparatus, and method of testing a plurality of test circuits is disclosed that includes inputting experiment data to the plurality of test circuits; applying a control signal to each of the plurality of test circuits to control application of the experiment data to the plurality of test circuits; and shifting the control signal in response to applying the control signal to each of the plurality of test circuits so that a different bit of the control signal is applied to each of the plurality of test circuits. The method in an aspect further comprises reading out a data out signal from each of the plurality of test circuits; and shifting the data out signal in response to reading out the data out signal from each of the plurality of test circuits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Stefan Payer, Michael Klein, Cedric Lichtenau, Ralf Richter
  • Publication number: 20210072990
    Abstract: A method for detecting faults in substring search operations includes providing, using a processor unit including vector registers of M vector elements each, an M×M matrix of comparators for characterwise comparison of the elements of a reference string stored in a first one of the vector registers and a target string stored in a second one of the vector registers. A vector element is an n-bit element for encoding a character. A resulting bit vector is generated using comparison performed by the M×M matrix. The resulting bit vector indicates characters of the target string that fully match the reference string and indicates characters of the target string that partially match the reference string. Fault detection in the substring search operations is performed by utilizing the resulting bit vector.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2019
    Publication date: March 11, 2021
    Inventors: RAZVAN PETER FIGULI, STEFAN PAYER, CEDRIC LICHTENAU, KERSTIN CLAUDIA SCHELM
  • Publication number: 20210072989
    Abstract: A method for detecting faults in substring search operations using a processor unit including vector registers of M vector elements each. A non-limiting example of the method includes providing an M×M matrix of comparators for characterwise comparison of the elements of a reference string and a target string. A first zero detect vector having value indicative of terminating element of the target string and a second zero detect vector having a value indicative of terminating element of the reference string are generated. A resulting bit vector is generated using comparison performed by the M×M matrix. The resulting bit vector indicates characters of the target string that fully match the reference string and indicate characters of the target string that partially match the reference string. Fault detection in the substring search operations is performed by comparing the generated zero detect vectors with operands.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2019
    Publication date: March 11, 2021
    Inventors: RAZVAN PETER FIGULI, STEFAN PAYER, PETRA LEBER, CEDRIC LICHTENAU
  • Publication number: 20210073000
    Abstract: A system for processing instructions with extended results includes a first instruction execution unit having a first result bus for execution of processor instructions. The system further includes a second instruction execution unit having a second result bus for execution of processor instructions. The first instruction execution unit is configured to selectively send a portion of results calculated by the first instruction execution unit to the second instruction execution unit during prosecution of a processor instruction if the second instruction execution unit is not used for executing the processor instruction and if the received processor instruction produces a result having a data width greater than the width of the first result bus. The second instruction execution unit is configured to receive the portion of results calculated by the first instruction execution unit and put the received results on the second results bus.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2019
    Publication date: March 11, 2021
    Inventors: MICHAEL KLEIN, NICOL HOFMANN, CEDRIC LICHTENAU, OSHER YIFRACH
  • Publication number: 20210042088
    Abstract: An aspect includes executing, by a binary based floating-point arithmetic unit of a processor, a calculation having two or more operands in hexadecimal format based on a hexadecimal floating-point (HFP) instruction and providing a condition code for a calculation result of the calculation. The floating-point arithmetic unit includes a condition code anticipator circuit that is configured to provide the condition code to the processor prior to availability of the calculation result.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 9, 2019
    Publication date: February 11, 2021
    Inventors: Silvia Melitta Mueller, Petra Leber, Kerstin Claudia Schelm, Cedric Lichtenau
  • Publication number: 20210042119
    Abstract: An aspect includes generating a data result and a special case indicator based on an instruction and at least one input data operand. Outputting the data result to a processor core. Outputting the first condition code to the processor core prior to outputting the data result to the processor core. Generating a second condition code based on the data result and the special case indicator. Performing a check by comparing the first condition code and the second condition code and flagging an error to the processor core upon the first condition code being different from the second condition code.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 9, 2019
    Publication date: February 11, 2021
    Inventors: Petra Leber, Kerstin Claudia Schelm, Cedric Lichtenau, Michael Klein
  • Patent number: 10901745
    Abstract: A processor unit for processing storage instructions. The processor unit comprises a detection logic unit configured to identify at least two storage instructions for moving addressable words between registers of the processor unit and neighboring storage locations. The processor unit further comprises a combination unit configured to combine the identified instructions into a single combined instruction; and a data movement unit configured to move the words using the combined instruction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2021
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Cedric Lichtenau, Peter Altevogt, Thomas Pflueger
  • Patent number: 10902348
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention include a computer-implemented method of processor branch prediction. This method aims at training a machine-learning model of processor branch behavior while a processing unit executes computer instructions. Such instructions include branch instructions, load instructions and store instructions. The load instructions and the store instructions cause a control unit of the processing unit to load data from a memory into processor registers and store data from the processor registers to the memory, respectively. Basically, the training of the model involves, for each of N branch instructions (N>2) encountered whilst the processing unit executes said branch instructions: identifying a next branch instruction; and feeding the machine-learning model with carefully chosen inputs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2021
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Peter Altevogt, Andreea Anghel, Gero Dittmann, Cedric Lichtenau, Thomas Pflueger
  • Patent number: 10896386
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention include a computer-implemented method of processor branch prediction. This method aims at training a machine-learning model of processor branch behavior while a processing unit executes computer instructions. Such instructions include branch instructions, load instructions and store instructions. The load instructions and the store instructions cause a control unit of the processing unit to load data from a memory into processor registers and store data from the processor registers to the memory, respectively. Basically, the training of the model involves, for each of N branch instructions (N>2) encountered whilst the processing unit executes said branch instructions: identifying a next branch instruction; and feeding the machine-learning model with carefully chosen inputs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2021
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Peter Altevogt, Andreea Anghel, Gero Dittmann, Cedric Lichtenau, Thomas Pflueger
  • Patent number: 10890622
    Abstract: Aspects include parsing, by a computer system, a design file of an integrated circuit including a plurality of stages to extract a plurality of inputs and outputs of a plurality of latches. The computer system can sort the latches based on latch locations in the stages and build a plurality of ordered vectors of signals before and after the latches based on the sorting. The computer system can build a plurality of parity vectors for each of the ordered vectors of signals before and after the latches, build a latch bank for each of the parity vectors before the latches, and build a parity vector comparison to detect a parity failure based on comparing the parity vectors after the latches with an output of the latch bank.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2021
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Stefan Payer, Michael Klein, Nicol Hofmann, Cedric Lichtenau