Patent ID: 8190669
Filing Date: 2012-05-29
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method for operating a functional unit of a microprocessor, the method comprising: receiving an opcode designating one of a plurality of supported operations to be performed and one or more operands on which the designated operation is to be performed; in response to the opcode and the one or more operands, selecting a plurality of inputs M operating a plurality of configurable arithmetic circuits in the functional unit to compute an operation result of the form M wherein the plurality of supported operations includes a unary function approximation (UFA) operation for approximating a unary function ƒ(x) of an argument operand x and a planar interpolation (PI) operation for performing planar interpolation on coordinate operands x and y, wherein selecting the plurality of inputs M in the event that the UFA operation is designated, selecting the plurality of inputs M wherein x in the event that the PI operation is designated, selecting the plurality of inputs M wherein A, B, and C are interpolation parameters and Δ is an offset term that depends at least in part on the interpolation parameter C, wherein selecting the plurality of inputs M obtaining the interpolation coefficients A, B, and C; selecting the interpolation coefficients A and B as inputs M selecting the coordinate operands x and y as inputs μ wherein the interpolation coefficients A, B, and C are obtained from the one or more operands on which the PI operation is to be performed, wherein selecting the plurality of inputs M selecting the interpolation coefficient C as the input M