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

Claim 14:
15. A method of executing, in 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 a first value from a source operand of n values and retaining an original value from the source operand to generate a result which includes the original value from the source operand and a symbol in the original location of the first value, wherein the masking instruction includes a probability field defining a probability value for masking values of the source operand; and
wherein randomly selecting the first value 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 value.