Patent ID: 9128531
Filing Date: 2015-09-08
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. Apparatus for processing data having data processing pipeline hardware, said data processing pipeline hardware comprising: a plurality of lanes of processing circuitry configured to perform data processing operations in parallel upon operands within respective ones of said plurality of lanes of processing circuitry; a plurality of special case detecting circuits, each coupled to a respective one of said plurality of lanes of processing circuitry and configured to detect in parallel a respective special case condition if one or more of said operands processed by said lane of processing circuitry matches any of one or more predetermined conditions; and one or more shared special case handling circuits each coupled to a plurality of said plurality of special case detecting circuits and configured to perform in series a respective special case processing operation for a special case condition detected within any of a plurality of said plurality of lanes of processing circuitry, wherein said data processing pipeline hardware comprises permutation circuitry configured to swap operands between said plurality of processing lanes, each of said one or more shared special case handling circuits disposed within a respective one of said plurality of processing lanes and said permutation circuitry configured to swap operands for a processing lane in which a special case condition has been detected into one of said plurality of processing lanes having one of said one or more said shared special case handling circuits for special case processing.