Blank bit and processor instructions employing the blank bit

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United States of America Patent

PATENT NO 9436466
SERIAL NO

14248283

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Importance

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Abstract

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Reading a value into a register, checking to see if the value is a NULL, and then jumping out of a loop if the value is a NULL is a common task that processors perform. To speed performance of such a task, a novel “blank bit” is added to the flag register of a processor. When a first instruction (arithmetic, logic or load) is executed, the instruction operands are checked to see if any is a NULL character value. Information on the result of the check is stored in the blank bit. Execution of a second instruction uses the information stored in the blank bit to determine whether or not a second operation (for example, a jump) will be performed. By using the first and second instructions in a loop, the number of instructions executed to check for NULLs at the end of strings and arrays is reduced.

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Patent Owner(s)

Patent OwnerAddress
IXYS INTL LIMITED103 SOUTH CHURCH STREET HARBOUR PLACE 4TH FL PO BOX 1034 GRAND CAYMAN KY1-1102

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Inventor(s)

Inventor Name Address # of filed Patents Total Citations
Yearsley, Gyle D Boise, US 13 132

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