Register Group Segmentation for Compact Instruction Encoding
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing data processing technologies face inefficiencies in encoding register specifiers within instructions, limiting the number of registers that can be specified and requiring additional bits for encoding, which restricts flexibility and performance, especially in high-performance processors.
Innovation Solution
The data processing apparatus logically arranges registers into multiple groups, with each register belonging to multiple groups, allowing the instruction decoder to use group and member identifying data to generate register access control signals, enabling efficient encoding and flexibility in specifying registers within a compact instruction encoding space.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If register renaming is used to reduce the number of bits needed to encode registers, then the number of registers that can be specified within a fixed instruction bit width increases, but the hardware complexity and overhead increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The register set is segmented into multiple register groups, where each register belongs to more than one group. The instruction specifier field is divided into two parts: group identifying data and member identifying data. This segmentation allows the system to specify registers more efficiently by first identifying the group and then the specific member, reducing the total bits needed while avoiding complex renaming hardware.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a new dimensional approach to register encoding by organizing registers in a multi-dimensional structure where each register is a member of multiple groups. This allows the system to navigate the register space through group membership rather than direct indexing, effectively increasing the number of addressable registers without proportionally increasing the encoding bits or hardware complexity.
2Adaptability or versatility
If more bits are used to encode register specifiers, then more registers can be directly specified, but the instruction encoding space is reduced for other information
Solution Approach 1:
The register encoding is segmented into group identifying data and member identifying data. By dividing the encoding into these two components, the system can represent more registers within the same bit width. The group identifier narrows down the search space, and the member identifier specifies the exact register, achieving more efficient encoding without increasing the total bit count.
Solution Approach 2:
Each register is designed to be a member of multiple register groups, making the register structure multi-functional. This universality allows a single register to be accessed through different group memberships, effectively increasing the number of addressable registers without requiring additional bits for encoding, thus preserving instruction encoding space for other information.
3Quantity of substance
If register windowing is used to reduce encoding bits, then fewer bits are needed to specify registers, but flexibility in performing operations on values from multiple contexts is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The register set is divided into multiple groups, and each register is a member of more than one group. This segmentation provides flexibility because the group identifying data can be dynamically selected based on the operational context, allowing the same physical register to be accessed through different group memberships depending on the program state or context requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables dynamic selection of register groups based on operational needs. Rather than being locked into fixed context-specific windows, the group identifying data can be adjusted to provide flexible access to registers from different contexts, maintaining adaptability while using compact encoding space.
Data Source
AI summary
A data processing apparatus and method for accessing operands stored within a set of registers. Instruction decoder circuitry, responsive to program instructions, generates register access control signals identifying for each program instruction which registers in the register set are to be accessed by the processing circuitry when performing the processing operation specified by that program instruction. The set of registers are logically arranged as a plurality of register groups, with each register in the set being a member of more than one register group. Each program instruction includes a register specifier field, and instruction decoder circuitry is responsive to each program instruction to determine a selected register group, and to determine one or more selected members of that selected register group. The instruction decoder circuitry then outputs register access control signals identifying the register corresponding to each selected member of the selected register group.