Data Processor Instruction Code Space Extension via Prohibition Patterns
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing 16-bit fixed-length instruction set has a limited instruction code space, leading to increased power consumption and decreased performance due to the need for more instructions, and existing methods to expand this space, such as 16/32-bit mixed instruction sets and prefix codes, struggle to maintain compatibility and efficiency.
Innovation Solution
Defining a prohibition combination pattern as a separate instruction in the data processor, where specific instruction combinations are prohibited, allowing for the extension of the instruction code space while maintaining compatibility with existing 16-bit fixed-length instruction sets and enabling efficient instruction supply to multiple pipelines.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If the instruction code space is broadened by mixing 16-bit and 32-bit fixed-length instructions, then the instruction code space is expanded, but compatibility with existing 16-bit instruction sets is compromised and device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extends the instruction code space by utilizing the dimension of prohibited instruction combinations. Specifically, it defines certain combinations of 16-bit instructions as prohibited, thereby creating new addressable instruction patterns without changing the fundamental 16-bit fixed-length structure. This allows expansion from the traditional 2^16 patterns to effectively 2^32 patterns by treating prohibited combinations as separate executable instructions, adding a new dimension to instruction encoding while preserving binary compatibility.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the number of instructions is increased to compensate for limited code space, then more instructions can be supported, but power consumption increases and performance decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes prohibited instruction combinations serve multiple functions: they act as both validity checks for instruction sequences and as additional executable instructions themselves. By defining certain instruction combinations as prohibited, the system simultaneously creates new instruction patterns that can be executed, thereby increasing the number of available instructions without requiring additional hardware resources or increasing power consumption.
3Quantity of substance
If prefix codes are used to extend the instruction code space, then more instructions can be defined, but the instruction set complexity and difficulty of detection increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by defining prohibited combinations at specific local positions in the instruction stream. Rather than using global prefix codes that affect the entire instruction set, the prohibition rules are applied locally to specific instruction pairs or sequences. This localized approach allows the system to extend instruction code space while maintaining simple detection rules that only need to check specific combination patterns rather than analyzing entire instruction sequences.
Data Source
AI summary
In the data processor in which a combination of multiple specific instructions is prohibited, an instruction set is employed that additionally defines that prohibition combination pattern as a separate instruction. With respect to the prohibition combination pattern additionally defined as the separate instruction, for example, in order to make a definition in such a manner that an instruction dispatch mechanism for the instruction set that is present before the additional definition is used as is, the instruction to be additionally defined by the prohibition combination pattern is limited to an instruction type that is the same as the instruction defined only with a latter-half code of the instruction in a case of an instruction set in which the instruction set that is present before the additional definition includes a prefix code.