System for multitasking management employing context controller having event vector selection by priority encoding of contex events
AssigneeLucent Technologies Inc.
InventorsWilhelmus J. M. Diepstraten, Michael A. Fischer, Wesley D. Hardell
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Abstract
A context controller for managing multitasking in a processor and a method of operating the same. In one embodiment, the context controller includes: (1) an event recorder that records occurrences of events and (2) an encoder, associated with the event recorder, that, in response to a software instruction, priority encodes bits corresponding to at least some of the events to generate therefrom an event-dependent vector to allow the processor to branch as a function thereof. Vectoring is per-instance of the vector decode software instruction, not per-event or per-context.
Claims22
A context controller for managing multitasking in a processor, comprising:
- an event recorder that records occurrences of events;
- and
- an encoder, associated with said event recorder, that, in response to a software instruction, priority encodes bits corresponding to at least some of said events to generate therefrom an event-dependent vector to allow said processor to branch as a function thereof.
A method of managing multitasking in a processor, comprising the steps of:
- recording occurrences of events;
- and
- in response to a software instruction, priority encoding bits corresponding to at least some of said events to generate therefrom an event-dependent vector to allow said processor to branch as a function thereof.
A processor, comprising:
- an instruction decoder that decodes instructions received into said processor and corresponding to a plurality of tasks;
- a plurality of register sets, corresponding to said plurality of tasks, that contain operands to be manipulated;
- an execution core, coupled to said instruction decoder and said plurality of register sets, that executes instructions corresponding to an active one of said plurality of tasks to manipulate said operands;
- and
- a context controller for managing multitasking in said processor, including:
- an event recorder that records occurrences of events, and
- an encoder, associated with said event recorder, that, in response to a software instruction, priority encodes bits corresponding to at least some of said events to generate therefrom an event-dependent vector to allow said processor to branch as a function thereof.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.