Abstract: A computer system employing a host processor and an emulation coprocessor. The host processor includes hardware configured to execute instructions defined by a host instruction set architecture, while the emulation coprocessor includes hardware configured to execute instructions defined by a different instruction set architecture from the host instruction set architecture (“the foreign instruction set architecture”). The host processor core executes operating system code as well as application programs which are coded in the host instruction set architecture. Upon initiation of a foreign application program, the host processor core communicates with the emulation coprocessor core to cause the emulation coprocessor core to execute the foreign application program. Accordingly, application programs coded according to the foreign instruction set architecture can be executed directly in hardware. The computer system may be characterized as a heterogeneous multiprocessing system.

Abstract: A computer system includes a host processor and an emulation coprocessor. The host processor includes hardware configured to execute instructions defined by a host instruction set architecture, while the emulation coprocessor includes hardware configured to execute instructions defined by a different instruction set architecture from the host instruction set architecture (“the foreign instruction set architecture”). According to one embodiment, the host processor executes operating system code as well as application programs which are coded in the host instruction set architecture. Upon initiation of a foreign application program, the host processor communicates with the emulation coprocessor to cause the emulation coprocessor to execute the foreign application program. The computer system also includes a bus bridge coupled to the host processor and the emulation coprocessor.

Abstract: A method for performing fast multiplication in a microprocessor is disclosed. The method comprises detecting multiplication operations that have a floating point operand and an integer operand, wherein the integer operand is an integer power of two. Once detected, a multiplication operation meeting these criteria may be executed by using an integer adder to sum the integer power and the floating point operand's exponent to from a product exponent. The bias of the integer operand's exponent may also be subtracted. A product mantissa is simply copied from the floating point operand's mantissa. The floating point operand's sign bit may be inverted to form the product's sign bit if the integer operand is negative. Advantageously, the product is generated using integer addition which is faster than floating point multiplication. The method may be implemented in hardware or software.