Handling Denormal Floating Point Operands When Result Must be Normalized

A system for handling denormal floating point operands when the result must be normalized. A leading zero counter (lzc) on the operand B (opB) is used to limit alignment shifts when opB is denormal but is much greater than the product of operands A and C, i.e. AC. By limiting the additional shift of...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors POWELL, JR. LAWRENCE JOSEPH, SCHMOOKLER MARTIN STANLEY, TRONG SON DAO
Format Patent
LanguageEnglish
Published 19.03.2009
Subjects
CALCULATING
COMPUTING
COUNTING
ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
PHYSICS
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Summary:A system for handling denormal floating point operands when the result must be normalized. A leading zero counter (lzc) on the operand B (opB) is used to limit alignment shifts when opB is denormal but is much greater than the product of operands A and C, i.e. AC. By limiting the additional shift of B during normalization, by the number of leading zeros in opB, no increase is needed in the output bus of the alignment shifter. Furthermore, the additional shift may be done either in the alignment shifter, or postponed to a later stage in the pipeline, where the result is normalized.
Bibliography:Application Number: US20080234890