Patents by Inventor Matthew Merten

Matthew Merten 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: 10320185
    Abstract: An integrated circuit for protecting against transient electrical stress events includes a rail clamp device, and a trigger circuit including a resistive-capacitive (RC) filter, a drive circuit including a first inverter stage receiving an input signal from the RC filter, the drive circuit is configured to enable the rail clamp device during a transient electrical stress event, and a stress event detection circuit coupled to the RC filter. The drive circuit includes a configurable activation voltage which is controlled by the stress event detection circuit, wherein the activation voltage is reduced when the transient electrical stress event is detected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2019
    Assignee: NXP USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert Matthew Mertens, Alexander Paul Gerdemann, Michael A. Stockinger
  • Publication number: 20180342498
    Abstract: An integrated circuit with protection against transient electrical stress events includes a trigger circuit having a first detection circuit coupled to a first supply voltage, a second detection circuit coupled to a second supply voltage, and a rail clamp device. During a first type of electrical stress event, the rail clamp device is activated in response to a first output signal provided by the first detection circuit. During a second type of electrical stress event, the rail clamp device is activated in response to a second output signal provided by the second detection circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 7, 2018
    Publication date: November 29, 2018
    Inventors: Robert Matthew Mertens, Michael A. Stockinger, Alexander Paul Gerdemann
  • Patent number: 10074643
    Abstract: An integrated circuit with protection against transient electrical stress events includes a trigger circuit having a first detection circuit coupled to a first supply voltage, a second detection circuit coupled to a second supply voltage, and a rail clamp device. During a first type of electrical stress event, the rail clamp device is activated in response to a first output signal provided by the first detection circuit. During a second type of electrical stress event, the rail clamp device is activated in response to a second output signal provided by the second detection circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2018
    Assignee: NXP USA, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert Matthew Mertens, Michael A. Stockinger, Alexander Paul Gerdemann
  • Publication number: 20180083443
    Abstract: An integrated circuit for protecting against transient electrical stress events includes a rail clamp device, and a trigger circuit including a resistive-capacitive (RC) filter, a drive circuit including a first inverter stage receiving an input signal from the RC filter, the drive circuit is configured to enable the rail clamp device during a transient electrical stress event, and a stress event detection circuit coupled to the RC filter. The drive circuit includes a configurable activation voltage which is controlled by the stress event detection circuit, wherein the activation voltage is reduced when the transient electrical stress event is detected.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 22, 2016
    Publication date: March 22, 2018
    Inventors: ROBERT MATTHEW MERTENS, ALEXANDER PAUL GERDEMANN, MICHAEL A. STOCKINGER
  • Publication number: 20180082992
    Abstract: An integrated circuit with protection against transient electrical stress events includes a trigger circuit having a first detection circuit coupled to a first supply voltage, a second detection circuit coupled to a second supply voltage, and a rail clamp device. During a first type of electrical stress event, the rail clamp device is activated in response to a first output signal provided by the first detection circuit. During a second type of electrical stress event, the rail clamp device is activated in response to a second output signal provided by the second detection circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 22, 2016
    Publication date: March 22, 2018
    Inventors: ROBERT MATTHEW MERTENS, MICHAEL A. STOCKINGER, ALEXANDER PAUL GERDEMANN
  • Publication number: 20170161106
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing fairness in a multi-processing element environment is herein described. Mask elements are utilized to associated portions of a reservation station with each processing element, while still allowing common access to another portion of reservation station entries. Additionally, bias logic biases selection of processing elements in a pipeline away from a processing element associated with a blocking stall to provide fair utilization of the pipeline.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 20, 2016
    Publication date: June 8, 2017
    Inventors: Morris Marden, Matthew Merten, Alexandre Farcy, Avinash Sodani, James Hadley, Ilhyun Kim
  • Patent number: 9524191
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing fairness in a multi-processing element environment is herein described. Mask elements are utilized to associated portions of a reservation station with each processing element, while still allowing common access to another portion of reservation station entries. Additionally, bias logic biases selection of processing elements in a pipeline away from a processing element associated with a blocking stall to provide fair utilization of the pipeline.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Morris Marden, Matthew Merten, Alexandre Farcy, Avinash Sodani, James Hadley, Ilhyun Kim
  • Publication number: 20160246606
    Abstract: An apparatus and method is described herein for providing robust speculative code section abort control mechanisms. Hardware is able to track speculative code region abort events, conditions, and/or scenarios, such as an explicit abort instruction, a data conflict, a speculative timer expiration, a disallowed instruction attribute or type, etc. And hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof makes an abort determination based on the tracked abort events. As an example, hardware may make an initial abort determination based on one or more predefined events or choose to pass the event information up to a firmware or software handler to make such an abort determination. Upon determining an abort of a speculative code region is to be performed, hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof performs the abort, which may include following a fallback path specified by hardware or software.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 26, 2015
    Publication date: August 25, 2016
    Inventors: Martin G. Dixon, Ravi Rajwar, Konrad K. Lai, Robert S. Chappell, Rajesh S. Parthasarathy, Alexandre J. Farcy, Ilhyun Kim, Prakash Math, Matthew Merten, Vijakumar Kadgi
  • Publication number: 20160239304
    Abstract: An apparatus and method is described herein for providing robust speculative code section abort control mechanisms. Hardware is able to track speculative code region abort events, conditions, and/or scenarios, such as an explicit abort instruction, a data conflict, a speculative timer expiration, a disallowed instruction attribute or type, etc. And hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof makes an abort determination based on the tracked abort events. As an example, hardware may make an initial abort determination based on one or more predefined events or choose to pass the event information up to a firmware or software handler to make such an abort determination. Upon determining an abort of a speculative code region is to be performed, hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof performs the abort, which may include following a fallback path specified by hardware or software.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 26, 2015
    Publication date: August 18, 2016
    Inventors: Martin G. Dixon, Ravi Rajwar, Konrad K. Lai, Robert S. Chappell, Rajesh S. Parthasarathy, Alexandre J. Farcy, Ilhyun Kim, Prakash Math, Matthew Merten, Vijaykumar Kadgi
  • Publication number: 20160210177
    Abstract: An apparatus and method is described herein for providing robust speculative code section abort control mechanisms. Hardware is able to track speculative code region abort events, conditions, and/or scenarios, such as an explicit abort instruction, a data conflict, a speculative timer expiration, a disallowed instruction attribute or type, etc. And hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof makes an abort determination based on the tracked abort events. As an example, hardware may make an initial abort determination based on one or more predefined events or choose to pass the event information up to a firmware or software handler to make such an abort determination. Upon determining an abort of a speculative code region is to be performed, hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof performs the abort, which may include following a fallback path specified by hardware or software.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 26, 2015
    Publication date: July 21, 2016
    Inventors: Martin G. Dixon, Ravi Rajwar, Konrad K. Lai, Robert S. Chappell, Rajesh S. Parthasarathy, Alexandre J. Farcy, Ilhyun Kim, Prakash Math, Matthew Merten, Vijaykumar Kadgi
  • Publication number: 20160188479
    Abstract: Novel instructions, logic, methods and apparatus are disclosed to test transactional execution status. Embodiments include decoding a first instruction to start a transactional region. Responsive to the first instruction, a checkpoint for a set of architecture state registers is generated and memory accesses from a processing element in the transactional region associated with the first instruction are tracked. A second instruction to detect transactional execution of the transactional region is then decoded. An operation is executed, responsive to decoding the second instruction, to determine if an execution context of the second instruction is within the transactional region. Then responsive to the second instruction, a first flag is updated. In some embodiments, a register may optionally be updated and/or a second flag may optionally be updated responsive to the second instruction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2015
    Publication date: June 30, 2016
    Inventors: Ravi Rajwar, Bret L. Toll, Konrad K. Lai, Matthew Merten, Martin G. Dixon
  • Publication number: 20160154648
    Abstract: An apparatus and method is described herein for providing robust speculative code section abort control mechanisms. Hardware is able to track speculative code region abort events, conditions, and/or scenarios, such as an explicit abort instruction, a data conflict, a speculative timer expiration, a disallowed instruction attribute or type, etc. And hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof makes an abort determination based on the tracked abort events. As an example, hardware may make an initial abort determination based on one or more predefined events or choose to pass the event information up to a firmware or software handler to make such an abort determination. Upon determining an abort of a speculative code region is to be performed, hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof performs the abort, which may include following a fallback path specified by hardware or software.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 26, 2015
    Publication date: June 2, 2016
    Inventors: Martin G. Dixon, Ravi Rajwar, Konrad K. Lai, Robert S. Chappell, Rajesh S. Parthasarathy, Alexandre J. Farcy, Ilhyun Kim, Prakash Math, Matthew Merten, Vijaykumar Kadgi
  • Publication number: 20160132334
    Abstract: An apparatus and method is described herein for providing robust speculative code section abort control mechanisms. Hardware is able to track speculative code region abort events, conditions, and/or scenarios, such as an explicit abort instruction, a data conflict, a speculative timer expiration, a disallowed instruction attribute or type, etc. And hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof makes an abort determination based on the tracked abort events. As an example, hardware may make an initial abort determination based on one or more predefined events or choose to pass the event information up to a firmware or software handler to make such an abort determination. Upon determining an abort of a speculative code region is to be performed, hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof performs the abort, which may include following a fallback path specified by hardware or software.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 26, 2015
    Publication date: May 12, 2016
    Inventors: Martin G. Dixon, Ravi Rajwar, Konrad K. Lai, Robert S. Chappell, Rajesh S. Parthasarathy, Alexandre J. Farcy, Ilhyun Kim, Prakash Math, Matthew Merten, Vijaykumar Kadgi
  • Publication number: 20160132337
    Abstract: An apparatus and method is described herein for providing robust speculative code section abort control mechanisms. Hardware is able to track speculative code region abort events, conditions, and/or scenarios, such as an explicit abort instruction, a data conflict, a speculative timer expiration, a disallowed instruction attribute or type, etc. And hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof makes an abort determination based on the tracked abort events. As an example, hardware may make an initial abort determination based on one or more predefined events or choose to pass the event information up to a firmware or software handler to make such an abort determination. Upon determining an abort of a speculative code region is to be performed, hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof performs the abort, which may include following a fallback path specified by hardware or software.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 26, 2015
    Publication date: May 12, 2016
    Inventors: Martin G. Dixon, Ravi Rajwar, Konrad K. Lai, Robert S. Chappell, Rajesh S. Parthasarathy, Alexandre J. Farcy, Ilhyun Kim, Prakash Math, Matthew Merten, Vijaykumar Kadgi
  • Publication number: 20160132335
    Abstract: An apparatus and method is described herein for providing robust speculative code section abort control mechanisms. Hardware is able to track speculative code region abort events, conditions, and/or scenarios, such as an explicit abort instruction, a data conflict, a speculative timer expiration, a disallowed instruction attribute or type, etc. And hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof makes an abort determination based on the tracked abort events. As an example, hardware may make an initial abort determination based on one or more predefined events or choose to pass the event information up to a firmware or software handler to make such an abort determination. Upon determining an abort of a speculative code region is to be performed, hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof performs the abort, which may include following a fallback path specified by hardware or software.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 26, 2015
    Publication date: May 12, 2016
    Inventors: Martin G. Dixon, Ravi Rajwar, Konrad K. Lai, Robert S. Chappell, Rajesh S. Parthasarathy, Alexandre J. Farcy, IIhyun Kim, Prakash Math, Matthew Merten, Vijaykumar Kadgi
  • Publication number: 20160132333
    Abstract: An apparatus and method is described herein for providing robust speculative code section abort control mechanisms. Hardware is able to track speculative code region abort events, conditions, and/or scenarios, such as an explicit abort instruction, a data conflict, a speculative timer expiration, a disallowed instruction attribute or type, etc. And hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof makes an abort determination based on the tracked abort events. As an example, hardware may make an initial abort determination based on one or more predefined events or choose to pass the event information up to a firmware or software handler to make such an abort determination. Upon determining an abort of a speculative code region is to be performed, hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof performs the abort, which may include following a fallback path specified by hardware or software.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 26, 2015
    Publication date: May 12, 2016
    Inventors: Martin G. Dixon, Ravi Rajwar, Konrad K. Lai, Robert S. Chappell, Rajesh S. Parthasarathy, Alexandre J. Farcy, Ilhyun Kim, Prakash Math, Matthew Merten, Vijaykumar Kadgi
  • Publication number: 20160132336
    Abstract: An apparatus and method is described herein for providing robust speculative code section abort control mechanisms. Hardware is able to track speculative code region abort events, conditions, and/or scenarios, such as an explicit abort instruction, a data conflict, a speculative timer expiration, a disallowed instruction attribute or type, etc. And hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof makes an abort determination based on the tracked abort events. As an example, hardware may make an initial abort determination based on one or more predefined events or choose to pass the event information up to a firmware or software handler to make such an abort determination. Upon determining an abort of a speculative code region is to be performed, hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof performs the abort, which may include following a fallback path specified by hardware or software.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 26, 2015
    Publication date: May 12, 2016
    Inventors: Martin G. Dixon, Ravi Rajwar, Konrad K. Lai, Robert S. Chappell, Rajesh S. Parthasarathy, Alexandre J. Farcy, Ilhyun Kim, Prakash Math, Matthew Merten, Vijaykumar Kadgi
  • Patent number: 9213048
    Abstract: Adapters for electrostatic discharge probe tips are disclosed herein. An embodiment of the adapter includes an attachment device that is attachable to the tip of the probe. A first conductor is affixed to the attachment device so that the first conductor contacts the tip when the attachment device is attached to the tip of the probe. A second conductor extends between the first electrical conductor and a point external to the attachment device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2015
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Robert Matthew Mertens, John Eric Kunz, Jr.
  • Patent number: 9182986
    Abstract: An apparatus is described having an out-of-order instruction execution pipeline. The out-of-order execution pipeline has a first circuit and a second circuit. The first circuit is to hold a pointer to physical storage space where information is kept that cannot yet be confirmed as being free of potential dependencies on the information. The second circuit is to hold the pointer if the pointer existed in the first circuit when a non speculative region of program code ended and upon retirement of a following speculative overwriter instruction originally coded to overwrite the information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2015
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Ravi Rajwar, David Lim, James Hadley, Matthew Merten, Joseph McMahon, Yury Ilin, Justin Deinlein
  • Publication number: 20150006717
    Abstract: In accordance with embodiments disclosed herein, there is provided systems and methods for tracking the mode of processing devices in an instruction tracing system. The method may include receiving an indication of a change in a current execution mode of the processing device. The method may also include determining that the current execution mode of the received indication is different than a value of an execution mode of a first execution mode (EM) packet previously-generated by the IT module. The method may also include generating, based on the determining that the current execution mode is different, a second EM packet that provides a value of the current execution mode of the processing device to indicate the change in the execution mode for an instruction in a trace generated by the IT module. The method may further include generating transactional memory (TMX) packets having n bit mode pattern in the packet log. The n is at least two and the n bit mode indicates transaction status of the TMX operation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 27, 2013
    Publication date: January 1, 2015
    Inventors: Thilo Schmitt, Peter Lachner, Beeman Strong, Ofer Levy, Thomas Toll, Matthew Merten, Tong Li, Ravi Rajwar, Konrad Lai