Patent SG-11201905880R-A (SG)
Title: Speculative transitions among modes with different privilege levels in a block-based microarchitecture
Inventor: WRIGHT GREGORY MICHAEL
IPC: G06F9/38
Filed: 2018-01-29
Abstract: 0 380-1 380-N 390 382-0 382-1 382-N 392 FIG. 3 BLOCK 312- FETCH -302 322 BLOCK COMMIT A ITLB =a-345 -344 • W O 20 18/ 1480 45 Al NEXT BLOCK CONTROL UNIT -352 NEXT BLOCK PREDICTION UNIT -350 (12) INTERNATIONAL APPLICATION PUBLISHED UNDER THE PATENT COOPERATION TREATY (PCT) (19) World Intellectual Property Organization International Bureau (43) International Publication Date 16 August 2018 (16.08.2018) WIP0 I PCT 0111111010 0111 °nolo DID IH mo Immo oimIE (10) International Publication Number WO 2018/148045 Al (51) International Patent Classification: GOOF 9 / 3 0 (2018.01) GOOF 9 / 3 8 (2018.01) (21) International Application Number: PCT/US2018/015678 (22) International Filing Date: 29 January 2018 (29.01.2018) (25) Filing Language: English (26) Publication Language: English (30) Priority Data: 15/431,763 13 February 2017 (13.02.2017) US (71) Applicant: QUALCOMM INCORPORATED [US/US]; ATTN: International IP Administration, 5775 Morehouse Drive, San Diego, California 92121-1714 (US). (72) Inventor: WRIGHT, Gregory Michael; Qualcomm In- corporated, 5775 Morehouse Drive, San Diego, California 92121-1714 (US). (74) Agent: CICCOZZI, John L. et al.; Muncy, Geissler, Olds & Lowe, P.C., 4000 Legato Road, Suite 310, Fairfax, Vir- ginia 22033 (US). (81) Designated States (unless otherwise indicated, for every kind of national protection available): AE, AG, AL, AM, AO, AT, AU, AZ, BA, BB, BG, BH, BN, BR, BW, BY, BZ, CA, CH, CL, CN, CO, CR, CU, CZ, DE, DJ, DK, DM, DO, DZ, EC, EE, EG, ES, FI, GB, GD, GE, GH, GM, GT, HN, HR, HU, ID, IL, IN, IR, IS, JO, JP, KE, KG, KH, KN, KP, KR, KW, KZ, LA, LC, LK, LR, LS, LU, LY, MA, MD, ME, MG, MK, MN, MW, MX, MY, MZ, NA, NG, NI, NO, NZ, OM, PA, PE, PG, PH, PL, PT, QA, RO, RS, RU, RW, SA, SC, SD, SE, SG, SK, SL, SM, ST, SV, SY, TH, TJ, TM, TN, TR, TT, TZ, UA, UG, US, UZ, VC, VN, ZA, ZM, ZW. (84) Designated States (unless otherwise indicated, for every kind of regional protection available): ARIPO (BW, GH, GM, KE, LR, LS, MW, MZ, NA, RW, SD, SL, ST, SZ, TZ, UG, ZM, ZW), Eurasian (AM, AZ, BY, KG, KZ, RU, TJ, TM), European (AL, AT, BE, BG, CH, CY, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HR, HU, IE, IS, IT, LT, LU, LV, MC, MK, MT, NL, NO, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SI, SK, SM, TR), OAPI (BF, BJ, CF, CG, CI, CM, GA, GN, GQ, GW, KM, ML, MR, NE, SN, TD, TG). Declarations under Rule 4.17: as to applicant's entitlement to apply for and be granted a patent (Rule 4.17(ii)) as to the applicant's entitlement to claim the priority of the earlier application (Rule 4.17(iii)) (54) Title: SPECULATIVE TRANSITIONS AMONG MODES WITH DIFFERENT PRIVILEGE LEVELS IN A BLOCK-BASED = MICROARCHITECTURE 300 (57) : The disclosure relates to processing in-flight blocks in a processor pipeline according to an expected execution mode to re- duce synchronization delays that could otherwise arise due to transi- tions among processor modes with varying privilege levels (e.g., user mode, supervisor mode, hypervisor mode, etc.). More particularly, a program counter associated with an instruction block to be fetched may be translated to one or more execute permissions associated with the instruction block and the instruction block may be associated with a speculative execution mode based at least in part on the one or more ex- ecute permissions. Accordingly, the instruction block may be processed relative to the speculative execution mode while in-flight within the processor pipeline. [Continued on next page] WO 2018/148045 Al MIDEDIMOMMIDEFIEOMMIUMONIVERVOIMIE Published: with international search report (Art. 21(3)) before the expiration of the time limit for amending the claims and to be republished in the event of receipt of amendments (Rule 48.2(h))