Instruction cache association crossbar switch
First Claim
1. In a computing system in which groups of individual instructions are executable in parallel by processing pipelines, apparatus for routing each instruction in a group to be executed in parallel to an appropriate pipeline, the apparatus comprising:
- storage for holding at least one group of instructions to be executed in parallel, each instruction in the group having associated therewith a pipeline identifier indicative of the pipeline for executing that instruction;
a crossbar having a first set of connectors coupled to the storage for receiving instructions therefrom and a second set of connectors coupled to the processing pipelines;
means responsive to the pipeline identifier of the individual instructions in the group for routing individual instructions onto appropriate ones of the second set of connectors, to thereby supply each instruction in the group to be executed in parallel to the appropriate pipeline.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A computing system as described in which individual instructions are executable in parallel by processing pipelines, and instructions to be executed in parallel by different pipelines are supplied to the pipelines simultaneously. The system includes storage for storing an arbitrary number of the instructions to be executed. The instructions to be executed are tagged with pipeline identification tags indicative of the pipeline to which they should be dispatched. The pipeline identification tags are supplied to a system which controls a crossbar switch, enabling the tags to be used to control the switch and supply the appropriate instructions simultaneously to the differing pipelines.
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Citations
8 Claims
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1. In a computing system in which groups of individual instructions are executable in parallel by processing pipelines, apparatus for routing each instruction in a group to be executed in parallel to an appropriate pipeline, the apparatus comprising:
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storage for holding at least one group of instructions to be executed in parallel, each instruction in the group having associated therewith a pipeline identifier indicative of the pipeline for executing that instruction;
a crossbar having a first set of connectors coupled to the storage for receiving instructions therefrom and a second set of connectors coupled to the processing pipelines;
means responsive to the pipeline identifier of the individual instructions in the group for routing individual instructions onto appropriate ones of the second set of connectors, to thereby supply each instruction in the group to be executed in parallel to the appropriate pipeline. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. In a computing system in which sets of individual instructions are executable in parallel by processing pipelines, apparatus for routing each instruction in a group to be executed in parallel to an appropriate pipeline, the apparatus comprising:
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a storage for holding a collection of instructions, including at least one set of instructions to be executed in parallel, each instruction in the set having associated therewith a pipeline identifier indicative of the pipeline to which that instruction is to be issued;
a crossbar switch having a first set of connectors coupled to the storage for receiving instructions therefrom and a second set of connectors coupled to the processing pipelines;
selection means connected to receive the set of instructions and connected to receive information about those instructions to be next executed in parallel for supplying in response thereto an output signal indicative of the next set of instructions to be executed in parallel; and
decoder means coupled to receive the output signal and each of the pipeline identifiers of the instructions in the storage for selectively connecting ones of the first set of connectors to ones of the second set of connectors to thereby supply each instruction in the set to be executed in parallel to the appropriate pipeline. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5)
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6. In a computing system in which groups of individual instructions are executable in parallel by processing pipelines, a method for transferring each instruction in a group to be executed through a crossbar switch having a first set of connectors coupled to the storage for receiving instructions therefrom and a second set of connectors coupled to the processing pipelines, the method comprising:
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storing in storage at least one group of instructions to be executed in parallel, each instruction in the group having associated therewith a pipeline identifier indicative of the pipeline which will execute that instruction; and
using the pipeline identifiers of the individual instructions in the at least one group of instructions which are to be executed next to control switches between the first set of connectors and the second set of connectors to thereby supply each instruction in the group to be executed in parallel to the appropriate pipeline. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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8. In a computing system in which groups of individual instructions are executable in parallel by processing pipelines, a method for supplying each instruction in a group to be executed in parallel to an appropriate pipeline, the method comprising:
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storing in storage at least one group of instructions to be executed in parallel, each instruction in the group having associated therewith a pipeline identifier indicative of the pipeline which will execute that instruction; and
using the pipeline identifier of those instructions to be next executed in parallel to control switches in a crossbar switch having a first set of connectors coupled to the storage for receiving instructions therefrom and a second set of connectors coupled to the processing pipelines to thereby supply each instruction in the group to be executed in parallel to the appropriate pipeline.
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Specification