Configurable processors gain further protection

Tensilica has been granted eight new configurable processor technology patents.

Tensilica has been granted eight new configurable processor technology patents, bringing its total to ten on configurable processor technology as well as several fundamental patents on processor architecture.

The company also has several other patents pending.

"In all, Tensilica's 10 patents make nearly 450 claims of inventions in the rapidly evolving field of configurable-processor technology", stated Tom Halfhill, Senior Analyst for In-Stat's Microprocessor Report.

"Although judging the strength of a patent portfolio by counting claims is like measuring microprocessor performance by counting megahertz, the large number of claims does indicate that Tensilica is staking out a great deal of territory".

The recently granted patents include the following: US 6,701,515 "System and method for dynamically designing and evaluating configurable processor instructions", describes systems for modular extension of software tools for user-specified processors; US 6,760,888 "Automated processor generation system for designing a configurable processor and method for the same", describes methods for generating hardware implementation and software tools (assembler, simulator, debugger) from an user-updatable specification of a processor; US 6,763,327 "Abstraction of configurable processor functionality for operating systems portability", describes methods and systems for generating and using hardware abstraction layers for operating system portability across configurable processors; US 6,854,046 "Configurable memory management unit", describes systems and methods for configuring and generating MMUs suited to a wide range of different system requirements; US 6,941,548 "Automatic instruction set architecture generation", describes systems for generating optimised instruction set architecture extensions for a target application program; US 6,986,127 "Debugging apparatus and method for systems of configurable processors", describes methods and systems for generating and using debuggers for accessing and interpreting the state of configurable processors US 7,020,854 "Automated processor generation system for designing a configurable processor and method for same", describes methods for generating hardware implementation and software tools for pipelined processors from configuration specifications; and US 7,036,106 "Automated processor generation system for designing a configurable processor and method for the same", describes systems for generating hardware implementations and software tools for processors with user-defined register files.

All of Tensilica's major patents also have equivalents either filed or issued in multiple international jurisdictions.

"These new patents showcase the depth of the work done by our outstanding engineering staff ", stated Chris Rowen, President and CEO of Tensilica.

"Our customers can feel reassured that we have full protection for our innovations".

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