Patent ID: 6128641
Filing Date: 2000-10-03
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
Method of context switching from a first task to a second task in a data processing unit having a register file with a plurality of general purpose registers and a context switch register, a memory comprising a previous context save area and an unused context save area, said memory being coupled with the register file and an instruction control unit having a program counter register and a program status word register coupled with the memory and the register file, wherein each context save area has a first portion containing the context and a second portion containing a link word, and wherein said context switch register stores the address of the previous context save area associated to said first task, comprising the steps of:acquiring a new save area from said unused save area,storing the content of said context switch register in said second portion of the unused context save area thereby linking the actual and the unused context save areas to first and second context save areas,storing the address of said unused context save area in said context switch register,storing the context of said first task in said first portion of said unused context save area.