Instruction execution that broadcasts and masks data values at different levels of granularity

A method, comprising:

• fetching a first data structure for a first instruction, said first data structure being a first packed data structure;
• executing said first instruction by replicating said first data structure within an execution unit to create a first replication data structure and masking said first replication data structure;
• fetching a second data structure for a second instruction, said second data structure being a second packed data structure, data values of said first packed data structure being twice as large as data values of said second packed data structure;
• executing said second instruction by replicating said second data structure within said execution unit to create a second replication data structure and masking said second replication data structure at a granularity that is twice as fine as said masking of said first replication data structure.

An apparatus, comprising:

• an execution unit to execute a first instruction and a second instruction, said execution unit including the following:
• i) input register space to store a respective data structure to be replicated for each of a plurality of instructions to be executed by said execution unit, said respective data structure for each of said plurality of instructions including:
• a first unpacked data structure for a first instruction;
• a second unpacked data structure for a second instruction where the second unpacked data structure is twice as large as said first unpacked data structure, a third packed data structure for a third instruction whose data values are the same size as said first unpacked data structure, a fourth packed data structure for a fourth instruction whose data values are the same size as said second unpacked data structure;
• ii) replication logic circuitry to:
• replicate said first data structure when executing said first instruction to create a first replication data structure, replicate said second data structure when executing said second instruction to create a second replication data structure, replicate said third data structure when executing said third instruction to create a third replication data structure, replicate said fourth data structure when executing said fourth instruction to create a fourth replication data structure;
• iii) masking logic circuitry to mask said first replication data structure and said third replication data structure at a first granularity and mask said second replication data structure and said fourth replication data structure at a second granularity, said first granularity being twice as fine as said second granularity.