Abstract: A method is disclosed for detecting overflow and underflow conditions using a status register having a main status field and first and second alternate status fields. The first and second alternate status fields are set to chop and wre modes, respectively, and chop and wre results are determined for an arithmetic operation using the first and second alternate status fields. The chop and wre results are tested against test values to determine whether an overflow or underflow condition exists.

Abstract: The present invention is a method and apparatus for rounding a result operand of a floating-point (FP) operation which causes an underflow. The FP operation is recomputed using a truncate rounding mode to generate an underflowed operand. The underflowed operand is denormalized and providing characteristic bits. A rounding bit is generated based on the characteristic bits. The rounding bit is merged with the denormalized operand to generate the rounded result operand.

Abstract: A floating point unit includes a rounding unit that rounds the two least significant bits of a sum. After a sum of the two mantissas is generated the at least one least significant bit is separated from the sum. When addition is performed, two least significant bits are separated from the sum. A half add unit may be used to generate the sum along with a set of carry data, and thus at least one least significant bit of the carry data is also separated. A rounding unit receives the separated at least one least significant bit of the sum and carry data and produces a carry in bit as well as rounded at least one least significant bit. The sum and carry data are then summed in a later stage of the floating point unit to form both a unincremented sum and an incremented sum, which are stored in a multiplexer. The carry in bit is used to select one of the unincremented sum and incremented sum.

Abstract: A floating-point unit of a computer includes a floating-point computation it, floating-point registers and a floating-point status register. The floating-point status register may include a main status field and one or more alternate status fields. Each of the status fields contains flag and control information. Different floating-point operations may be associated with different status fields. Subfields of the floating-point status register may be updated dynamically during operation. The control bits of the alternate status fields may include a trap disable bit for deferring interruptions during speculative execution. A widest range exponent control bit in the status fields may be used to prevent interruptions when the exponent of an intermediate result is within the range of the register format but exceeds the range of the memory format. The floating-point data may be stored in big endian or little endian format.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method and circuit for executing an overshifted rotate through carry instruction. The circuit and method generates an n-bit output operand and output carry flag which represents a result of rotating a combination of a first n-bit operand and a first carry flag by a selected number of bit positions in a selected direction. The selected number of bit positions correspond to a z-bit count. The n-bit output operand and output carry flag is generated by first rotating the combination of the first n-bit operand and the first carry flag in the selected direction by a first number of bit positions corresponding to the y significant bits of the z-bit rotation count. This results in a second n-bit operand and a second carry flag. Thereafter, a combination of the second n-bit operand and the second carry flag is rotated in a direction opposite of the selected direction by second number of bit positions corresponding to the x most significant bits of the z-bit rotation count.

Abstract: A 3-D graphics accelerator for performing lighting operations using operands within a given fixed point numeric range. The 3-D graphics accelerator includes a first computational unit which is configured to compute a value of an attenuation factor usable for performing said lighting operation for local lights. The attenuation factor is represented in floating point format. The first computational unit is also configured to represent the attenuation factor in an intermediate format including a first intermediate value (a scaled attenuation factor value within the given fixed point numeric range), and a second intermediate value (a shift count usable to convert the scaled attenuation factor value back to the original attenuation factor value). The 3-D graphics accelerator further includes a lighting unit coupled to said first computational unit. The first computational unit is further configured to convey the intermediate representation of the attenuation factor to the lighting unit.

Abstract: An intermediate result signal arising from a manipulation of data signals is checked and reduced without using conditional branches, thereby improving instruction processing. Data signals are represented as signed 8-bit binary values in a two's compliment format. This requires that the intermediate result signal be stored in a register that is greater than 8-bits wide to allow for the proper checking of an overflow condition. A processor operating under program control with the program has the following operations. The program determines whether the intermediate result signal is in a positive overflow state or a negative overflow state. A first mask signal is set to have 8 lower bits in an OFF position when the intermediate result signal is inside the range of a signed 8 bit integer. Otherwise, the first mask signal is set to have 8 lower bits in an ON position.