Patent ID: 11907720
Assignee: ARM LIMITED
Field: Computer technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 16:
17. A data processing method, comprising:
indicating whether each of a plurality of registers is in a data mode or a metadata mode, wherein each of the registers has data bits to store data, and metadata bits to store metadata, and wherein when one of the registers operates in the metadata mode, the metadata bits and the data bits are valid, and when the one of the registers operates in the data mode, the data bits are valid and the metadata bits are invalid;
responding to a memory operation that is a store operation by:
determining from mode bit storage circuitry whether a register in the one or more given registers is in the data mode or the metadata mode;
storing the data bits of the register and the metadata bits of the register to a data structure in memory when the register is in the metadata mode; and,
storing the data bits of the register without the metadata bits of the register to the data structure in the memory when the register is in the data mode.