Patent ID: 7962729
Filing Date: 2011-06-14
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: determining a target register based, at least in part, on an instruction that indicates operations to modify contents of the target register; determining a type of range checking indicated for the target register by range status registers, wherein the range status registers indicate any one or more of whether range checking is performed using signed or unsigned arithmetic and whether inclusive or exclusive range bounds are applied on the target register; determining a lower range bound value and an upper range bound value for the target register, wherein a set of one or more range bound registers indicate the upper range bound value and the lower range bound value; determining, based on the lower range bound value and the upper range bound value, that a value to be stored in the target register is invalid; and generating a range checking exception that indicates that the value to be stored in the target register violates any one of the lower and the upper range bound values.