摘要:
An apparatus and method for controlling the stopping of the clock signal utilized by the processing unit of a computer system comprises the use of a novel external pin which can be enabled to initiate a sequence of events that results in the halting of the internal clock signal. The invention includes a microcode engine that responds to the assertion of the external pin by executing a sequence of steps which stops the current instruction on an instruction boundary. A logic circuit then generates a signal that masks the clock signal produced by the system's phase-locked loop. An interrupt mechanism is also utilized to prioritize the occurrence of the external signal among other system interrupts. The interrupt mechanism insures that the processor never has its clock stopped in the middle of a bus cycle.
摘要:
An apparatus and method for controlling the stopping of the clock signal utilized by the processing unit of a computer system comprises the use of a novel external pin which can be enabled to initiate a sequence of events that results in the halting of the internal clock signal. The invention includes a microcode engine that responds to the assertion of the external pin by executing a sequence of steps which stops the current instruction on an instruction boundary. A logic circuit then generates a signal that masks the clock signal produced by the system's phase-locked loop. An interrupt mechanism is also utilized to prioritize the occurrence of the external signal among other system interrupts. The interrupt mechanism insures that the processor never has its clock stopped in the middle of a bus cycle.
摘要:
An apparatus and method for controlling the stopping of the clock signal utilized by the processing unit of a computer system comprises the use of a novel external pin which can be enabled to initiate a sequence of events that results in the halting of the internal clock signal. The invention includes a microcode engine that responds to the assertion of the external pin by executing a sequence of steps which stops the current instruction on an instruction boundary. A logic circuit then generates a signal that masks the clock signal produced by the system's phase-locked loop. An interrupt mechanism is also utilized to prioritize the occurrence of the external signal among other system interrupts. The interrupt mechanism insures that the processor never has its clock stopped in the middle of a bus cycle.
摘要:
An apparatus and method for controlling the stopping of the clock signal utilized by the processing unit of a computer system comprises the use of a novel external pin which can be enabled to initiate a sequence of events that results in the halting of the internal clock signal. The invention includes a microcode engine that responds to the/assertion of the external pin by executing a sequence of steps which stops the current instruction on an instruction boundary. A logic circuit then generates a signal that masks the clock signal produced by the system's phase-locked loop. An interrupt mechanism is also utilized to prioritize the occurrence of the external signal among other system interrupts. The interrupt mechanism insures that the processor never has its clock stopped in the middle of a bus cycle.
摘要:
An apparatus and method for controlling the stopping of the clock signal utilized by the processing unit of a computer system comprises the use of a novel external pin which can be enabled to initiate a sequence of events that results in the halting of the internal clock signal. The invention includes a microcode engine that responds to the assertion of the external pin by executing a sequence of steps which stops the current instruction on an instruction boundary. A logic circuit then generates a signal that masks the clock signal produced by the system's phase-locked loop. An interrupt mechanism is also utilized to prioritize the occurrence of the external signal among other system interrupts. The interrupt mechanism insures that the processor never has its clock stopped in the middle of a bus cycle.
摘要:
A method and apparatus for operating an integrated in a reduced-power consumption state are described. The apparatus comprises power-reduction logic which, to place the integrated circuit in the reduced-power consumption state, gates a clock signal to both first and second sets of functional units within the integrated circuit. The first set of functional units is distinguished in that it is required to perform cache coherency operations within integrated circuit. The apparatus includes an input which is coupled to receive a signal indicating a memory access, to a memory resource accessible by the integrated circuit, by a further device external to the integrated circuit. In response to the assertion of this signal, the power-reduction logic propagates the clock signal to the first set of functional units, to enable this set of functional units to perform a cache coherency operation which may be necessitated by the memory access by the external device.
摘要:
A computer system includes a first processor, a second processor, and interprocessor communication logic (ICL). The first processor operates at a higher frequency, includes a more advanced micro-architecture, and consumes more power than the second processor. When the computer system is plugged in, the first processor is selected as the primary system processor. When the computer system is powered by a battery, the second processor is selected as the primary system processor. The second processor and the ICL may be integrated together on the same semiconductor chip.
摘要:
An electronic translator comprises an input device for entering a first word or words, a first memory circuit for storing the first words, a second memory circuit for storing second words equivalent to the first words, an access circuit for addressing the memory circuits to cause retrieval of the first word or words, or alternately the second word or words, and a control circuit for controlling activation of the access circuit. There may be additionally provided a holding circuit for holding one or more of the first words without translation thereof.
摘要:
An electronic translator of a desired sentence in a first language to a desired sentence in a second language includes exemplary sentences and selectable words in both languages to simplify translation, and a voice synthesizer to speak the translated desired sentence.
摘要:
A method and apparatus for serial communication with a co-processor. In one embodiment, a microprocessor is provided with a CPU core, set of serial interface registers, a serial interface unit, to provide serial communication between a co-processor and the microprocessor. The set of serial interface registers is part of a register file of the CPU core and interrupts are exchanged between the CPU core and the co-processor to allow for reading and writing of data placed in the serial registers of the register file.