Instruction Analysis, E.g., Decoding, Instruction Word Fields (epo) Patents (Class 712/E9.028)
  • Patent number: 12093690
    Abstract: A digital data processor includes an instruction memory storing instructions specifying data processing operations and a data operand field, an instruction decoder coupled to the instruction memory for recalling instructions from the instruction memory and determining the operation and the data operand, and an operational unit coupled to a data register file and an instruction decoder to perform an operation upon an operand corresponding to an instruction decoded by the instruction decoder and storing results of the operation. The operational unit is configured to perform a table recall in response to a look up table read instruction by recalling data elements from a specified location and adjacent location to the specified location, in a specified number of at least one table and storing the recalled data elements in successive slots in a destination register. Recalled data elements include at least one interpolated data element in the adjacent location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2024
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Naveen Bhoria, Dheera Balasubramanian Samudrala, Duc Bui, Alan Davis
  • Patent number: 12093621
    Abstract: A hardware monitor arranged to detect out-of-bounds violations in a hardware design for an electronic device. The hardware monitors include monitor and detection logic configured to monitor the current operating state of an instantiation of the hardware design and detect when the instantiation of the hardware design implements a fetch of an instruction from memory; and assertion evaluation logic configured to evaluate one or more assertions that assert a formal property that compares the memory address of the fetched instruction to an allowable memory address range associated with the current operating state of the instantiation of the hardware design to determine whether there has been an out-of-bounds violation. The hardware monitor may be used by a formal verification tool to exhaustively verify that the hardware design does not cause an instruction to be fetched from an out-of-bounds address.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2023
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2024
    Assignee: Imagination Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Ashish Darbari, Iain Singleton
  • Patent number: 12050929
    Abstract: A data processing device is provided that includes a plurality of hardware data processing nodes, wherein each hardware data processing node performs a task, and a hardware thread scheduler including a plurality of hardware task schedulers configured to control execution of a respective task on a respective hardware data processing node of the plurality of hardware data processing nodes, and a proxy hardware task scheduler coupled to a data processing node external to the data processing device, wherein the proxy hardware task scheduler is configured to control execution of a task by the external data processing device, wherein the hardware thread scheduler is configurable to execute a thread of tasks, the tasks including the task controlled by the proxy hardware task scheduler and a first task controlled by a first hardware task scheduler of the plurality of hardware task schedulers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2024
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Hetul Sanghvi, Niraj Nandan, Mihir Narendra Mody, Kedar Satish Chitnis
  • Patent number: 11809870
    Abstract: In a processor supporting execution of a plurality of functions of an instruction, an instruction blocking value is set for blocking one or more of the plurality of functions, such that an attempt to execute one of the blocked functions, will result in a program exception and the instruction will not execute, however the same instruction will be able to execute any of the functions that are not blocked functions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 7, 2023
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Dan Greiner, Damian Osisek, Timothy Slegel, Lisa Cranton Heller
  • Patent number: 11720366
    Abstract: An arithmetic processing apparatus includes two instruction decoders. A first decoder processes instructions in a single cycle, while a second decoder processes instructions in a plurality of cycles. The apparatus further includes a determination circuit that causes the first decoder to process an instruction to be processed when the instruction to be processed is a specific instruction and there is no previous instruction being processed, and causes the second decoder to process the instruction to be processed when the instruction to be processed is not the specific instruction or there is a previous instruction being processed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: FUJITSU LIMITED
    Inventor: Ryohei Okazaki
  • Patent number: 10942742
    Abstract: A reconfigurable processing circuit and system are provided. The system allows a user to program machine-level instructions in order to reconfigure the way the circuit behaves, including by adding new operations. The system can include a profile access content-addressable memory (CAM) configured to receive an execution step value from a step counter. The execution step value can be incremented and/or reset by a step management logic. The profile access CAM can select an entry of a profile table based on an opcode and the execution step value, and the processing engine can execute microcode based on the selected entry of the profile table. The profile access CAM can translate the opcode to an internal short instruction identifier in order to select the entry of the profile table. The system can further include an instruction decoding module configured to merge multiple instruction fields into a single effective instruction field.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2021
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Ron Diamant, Sundeep Amirineni, Mohammad El-Shabani, Sagar Sonar, Kenneth Wayne Patton
  • Patent number: 10901698
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a computer-implemented method for executing one or more operations based on a command. According to the method, a command is received. A command name of the command and one or more parameters of the command are extracted. A command description file corresponding to the command is retrieved based on the command name. The command description file describes function logic of the command. The retrieved command description file is parsed, and information for executing one or more operations included in the command description file is acquired. The one or more operations are executed based on the acquired information and the one or more parameters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2021
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Kun Yang, Jun Li Wang, Yu Zhuang, Hongling Zhang
  • Patent number: 10771062
    Abstract: Presented are systems and methods that allow hardware designers to protect valuable IP and information in the hardware domain in order to increase overall system security. In various embodiments of the invention this is accomplished by configuring logic gates of existing logic circuitry based on a key input. In certain embodiments, a logic function provides results that are dependent not only on input values but also on an encrypted logic key that determines connections for a given logic building block, such that the functionality of the logic function cannot be determined by reverse engineering. In some embodiments, the logic key is created by decrypting a piece of data using a secret or private key. Advantages of automatic encryption include that existing circuitry need not be re-implemented or re-built, and that the systems and methods presented are backward compatible with standard manufacturing tools.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2020
    Assignee: Maxim Integrated Products, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert Michael Muchsel, Donald Wood Loomis, III, Edward Tangkwai Ma, Hung Thanh Nguyen, Nancy Kow Iida, Mark Alan Lovell
  • Patent number: 10642981
    Abstract: A checking method for a processor is provided. The checking method first determines whether a checked processor satisfies a security-sensitive condition including one or more of security-sensitive instruction, processor running mode, security-sensitive input/output operation, security-sensitive application, and user-defined security level. Then, the checking method checks the checked processor according to a determination result, which further includes: when the checked processor satisfies the security-sensitive condition, checking the checked processor according to a first checking mode; and when the checked processor does not satisfy the security-sensitive condition, checking the checked processor according to a second checking mode; wherein for the same running process of the checked processor, a total checking length of the first checking mode is longer than that of the second checking mode. Also provided is a checking device for a processor and a checking system for a processor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: Wuxi Research Institute of Applied Technologies Tsinghua University
    Inventors: Leibo Liu, Ao Luo, Shaojun Wei
  • Patent number: 10360006
    Abstract: A source code described in a programming language for an ETL tool is generated from a source code described in a procedural programming language. A source code acquisition unit acquires a source code described in a procedural programming language and in which a group of instructions that handles one or more variables is described. A processing block generation unit generates a group of processing blocks associated with the group of instructions described in the source code acquired. A port setting unit sets, in a group of processing blocks associated with a group of instructions executed between execution of an instruction that handles first a variable focused on and execution of an instruction that handles last the variable focused on, among the group of processing blocks generated, an input port and an output port for transmitting data referred to by the variable focused on. A port connection unit connects the input port and the output port set.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2019
    Assignee: NEC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Jun Eguchi
  • Patent number: 10108340
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention receive I/O commands expressed in either vendor-specific or non-vendor-specific protocols and normalize them into a common format for execution by different memory devices. Embodiments of the present invention identify these I/O commands using parameters common to both types of protocols. In this fashion, embodiments store normalized commands in data structures for execution by memory devices in which the normalized commands represent instructions for performing an action corresponding with execution of the original I/O command. Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention save resources with respect to hardware and software maintenance costs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2018
    Assignee: WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Sriram Rupanagunta, Ashish Singhai, Sandeep Sharma, Srikant Sadasivam, Krishanth Skandakumaran, George Moussa, Rajendra Prasad Mishra, Kenneth Alan Okin
  • Patent number: 9323536
    Abstract: A data processing apparatus and method of data processing are disclosed. A fetch unit retrieves program instructions comprising call instructions and return instructions from memory to be executed by an execution unit. A branch prediction unit generates a return address prediction for an identified return instruction with reference to a return address stack. The branch prediction unit performs a return address push onto said return address stack when the execution unit executes a call instruction and performs a return address pop from the return address stack when the execution unit executes a return instruction. An error detection unit identifies a missing call instruction or a missing return instruction in said program instructions by reference to the return address prediction, a resolved return address indicated by the execution unit when the return instruction is executed and the content of the return address stack.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2016
    Assignee: ARM Limited
    Inventors: Clement Marc Demongeot, Louis-Marie Vincent Mouton, Jocelyn Francois Orion Jaubert
  • Patent number: 8984260
    Abstract: A circuit arrangement, method, and program product for substituting a plurality of scalar instructions in an instruction stream with a functionally equivalent vector instruction for execution by a vector execution unit. Predecode logic is coupled to an instruction buffer which stores instructions in an instruction stream to be executed by the vector execution unit. The predecode logic analyzes the instructions passing through the instruction buffer to identify a plurality of scalar instructions that may be replaced by a vector instruction in the instruction stream. The predecode logic may generate the functionally equivalent vector instruction based on the plurality of scalar instructions, and the functionally equivalent vector instruction may be substituted into the instruction stream, such that the vector execution unit executes the vector instruction in lieu of the plurality of scalar instructions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2015
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Adam J. Muff, Paul E. Schardt, Robert A. Shearer, Matthew R. Tubbs
  • Patent number: 8892851
    Abstract: A circuit arrangement and method support compression and expansion of instruction opcodes by detecting successive address targeting and decoding a first opcode of an instruction into a second opcode in response to detecting successive address targeting. The circuit arrangement and method execute instructions in an instruction stream and detect successive address targeting by two or more instructions in the instruction stream without the targeted address being utilized as a source address in an instruction executed between the first and second instructions in the instruction stream. Then, based on that detection, the opcode of the second instruction is modified, changed, or appended to such that a different opcode is indicated by the second instruction, such that executing the second instruction causes a different unique type of operation to be performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 18, 2014
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Adam J. Muff, Paul E. Schardt, Robert A. Shearer, Matthew R. Tubbs
  • Patent number: 8131977
    Abstract: A microprocessor includes: a processor core that performs pipeline processing; an instruction analyzing section that analyzes an instruction to be processed by the processor core and outputs analysis information indicating whether the instruction matches with a specific instruction; and a memory that temporary stores the instruction with the analysis information, wherein the processor core includes: an instruction fetch unit that fetches the instruction stored in the memory; an instruction decode unit that decodes the instruction fetched by the instruction fetch unit; an instruction execute unit that executes the instruction decoded by the instruction decode unit; and a specific instruction execute controller that reads out the analysis information stored in the memory and controls operation of at least one of the instruction fetch unit and the instruction decode unit when the analysis instruction indicates that the instruction matches with the specific instruction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2012
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventor: Kenta Yasufuku