Patent ID: 7395532

Claim:
A process for executing programs on a multiprocessor system having a plurality of processors, having an instruction set architecture, each of the processors being able to execute, at each processing cycle, a respective maximum number of instructions, the process comprising: retrieving a first set of instructions as compiled instruction words having a first length and executable on a first processor of said plurality; retrieving a second set of instructions as compiled instruction words having a second length and executable on a second processor of said plurality; and modifying, during runtime of one of the programs, at least some of the instruction words of the first set of instructions by converting them into modified-instruction words executable on the second processor of said plurality, said modification operation comprising: splitting said instruction words of the first set of instructions into modified-instruction words and managing a context of execution of the modified-instruction words by the second processor, wherein said first set of instructions and said second set of instructions have, respectively, a first and a second maximum length with said first maximum length greater than said second maximum length, the quotient between said first maximum length and said second maximum length having a given value with the possible presence of a remainder and in that the procedure comprises the operations of: selectively modifying instructions in the first set of instructions by: splitting said first instruction words into a number of said first modified-instruction words equal to the value of said quotient; and in the presence of said remainder, adding to said first modified-instruction words a further modified-instruction word of length equal to said second maximum length, said second maximum length being obtained by entering into said further first modified-instruction word a set of no-operation instructions.