Patent ID: 11900109
Assignee: GRAPHCORE LIMITED
Field: Computer technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 9:
10. A method of executing, by an execution unit, a computer program comprising a sequence of instructions, the sequence including a masking instruction, the method comprising:
responsive to execution of the masking instruction, randomly selecting first values from a source operand of n values and retaining other original values from the source operand to generate a result which includes original values from the source operand and symbols in the respective original locations of the selected first values, wherein the masking instruction includes a probability field defining a probability value for masking values of the source operand, wherein the randomly selecting the first values includes:
in response to instigation of the masking instruction, obtaining a randomised bit string output comprising m bits from a pseudo random number generator implemented in hardware in the execution unit;
dividing the randomised bit string obtained from the pseudo random number generator into p sequences and comparing each of the p sequences with the probability value to generate a weighted probability indicator for selecting the first values to be masked.