Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090077361 | DETECTING SPIN LOOPS IN A VIRTUAL MACHINE ENVIRONMENT - Embodiments of apparatuses, methods, and systems detecting spin loops in a virtual machine environment are disclosed. In one embodiment, an apparatus includes detection logic and virtualization logic. The detection logic is to detect whether a guest is executing a spin loop. The virtualization logic is to transfer control of the apparatus from the guest to a host in response to the detection logic detecting that the guest is executing the spin loop | 03-19-2009 |
20100146311 | Method and Apparatus for a Zero Voltage Processor Sleep State - Embodiments of the invention relate to a method and apparatus for a zero voltage processor sleep state. A processor may include a dedicated cache memory. A voltage regulator may be coupled to the processor to provide an operating voltage to the processor. During a transition to a zero voltage power management state for the processor, the operational voltage applied to the processor by the voltage regulator may be reduced to approximately zero and the state variables associated with the processor may be saved to the dedicated cache memory. | 06-10-2010 |
20100332574 | Digital random number generator - A hardware-based digital random number generator is provided. The digital random number generator is a randomly behaving random number generator based on a set of nondeterministic behaviors. The nondeterministic behaviors include temporal asynchrony between subunits, entropy source “extra” bits, entropy measurement, autonomous deterministic random bit generator reseeding and consumption from a shared resource. | 12-30-2010 |
20120072750 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR A ZERO VOLTAGE PROCESSOR SLEEP STATE - Embodiments of the invention relate to a method and apparatus for a zero voltage processor sleep state. A processor may include a dedicated cache memory. A voltage regulator may be coupled to the processor to provide an operating voltage to the processor. During a transition to a zero voltage power management state for the processor, the operational voltage applied to the processor by the voltage regulator may be reduced to approximately zero and the state variables associated with the processor may be saved to the dedicated cache memory. | 03-22-2012 |
20120191951 | MFENCE and LFENCE Micro-Architectural Implementation Method and System - A system and method for fencing memory accesses. Memory loads can be fenced, or all memory access can be fenced. The system receives a fencing instruction that separates memory access instructions into older accesses and newer accesses. A buffer within the memory ordering unit is allocated to the instruction. The access instructions newer than the fencing instruction are stalled. The older access instructions are gradually retired. When all older memory accesses are retired, the fencing instruction is dispatched from the buffer. | 07-26-2012 |
20130013945 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR A ZERO VOLTAGE PROCESSOR SLEEP STATE - Embodiments of the invention relate to a method and apparatus for a zero voltage processor sleep state. A processor may include a dedicated cache memory. A voltage regulator may be coupled to the processor to provide an operating voltage to the processor. During a transition to a zero voltage power management state for the processor, the operational voltage applied to the processor by the voltage regulator may be reduced to approximately zero and the state variables associated with the processor may be saved to the dedicated cache memory. | 01-10-2013 |
20130067200 | MFENCE AND LFENCE MICRO-ARCHITECTURAL IMPLEMENTATION METHOD AND SYSTEM - A system and method for fencing memory accesses. Memory loads can be fenced, or all memory access can be fenced. The system receives a fencing instruction that separates memory access instructions into older accesses and newer accesses. A buffer within the memory ordering unit is allocated to the instruction. The access instructions newer than the fencing instruction are stalled. The older access instructions are gradually retired. When all older memory accesses are retired, the fencing instruction is dispatched from the buffer. | 03-14-2013 |
20130073834 | MFENCE AND LFENCE MICRO-ARCHITECTURAL IMPLEMENTATION METHOD AND SYSTEM - A system and method for fencing memory accesses. Memory loads can be fenced, or all memory access can be fenced. The system receives a fencing instruction that separates memory access instructions into older accesses and newer accesses. A buffer within the memory ordering unit is allocated to the instruction. The access instructions newer than the fencing instruction are stalled. The older access instructions are gradually retired. When all older memory accesses are retired, the fencing instruction is dispatched from the buffer. | 03-21-2013 |
20130205117 | MFENCE AND LFENCE MICRO-ARCHITECTURAL IMPLEMENTATION METHOD AND SYSTEM - A system and method for fencing memory accesses. Memory loads can be fenced, or all memory access can be fenced. The system receives a fencing instruction that separates memory access instructions into older accesses and newer accesses. A buffer within the memory ordering unit is allocated to the instruction. The access instructions newer than the fencing instruction are stalled. The older access instructions are gradually retired. When all older memory accesses are retired, the fencing instruction is dispatched from the buffer. | 08-08-2013 |
20130212370 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ESTABLISHING SAFE PROCESSOR OPERATING POINTS - A system and method is provided for establishing safe processor operating points. Some embodiments may include a tamper resistant storage element that stores information regarding one or more operating points of an adjustable processor operating parameter. Some embodiments may further include an element to determine what the current processor operating point is of the operating parameter, and an element to compare the current operating point of the operating parameter with the stored information. | 08-15-2013 |
20140096245 | Protection Against Return Oriented Programming Attacks - In one embodiment, a processor includes at least one execution unit. The processor also includes a Return Oriented Programming (ROP) logic coupled to the at least one execution unit. The ROP logic may validate a return pointer stored on a call stack based on a secret ROP value. The secret ROP value may only be accessible by the operating system. | 04-03-2014 |
20140096247 | Protection Against Return Oriented Programming Attacks - In one embodiment, a processor includes at least one execution unit. The processor also includes a Return Oriented Programming (ROP) logic coupled to the at least one execution unit. The ROP logic may validate a return pointer stored on a call stack based on a secret ROP value. The secret ROP value may only be accessible by the operating system. | 04-03-2014 |
20140123281 | DETECTION OF RETURN ORIENTED PROGRAMMING ATTACKS - In one embodiment, a processor includes at least one execution unit and Return Oriented Programming (ROP) detection logic. The ROP detection logic may determine a ROP metric based on a plurality of control transfer events. The ROP detection logic may also determine whether the ROP metric exceeds a threshold. The ROP detection logic may also, in response to a determination that the ROP metric exceeds the threshold, provide a ROP attack notification. | 05-01-2014 |
20140123286 | Detection Of Return Oriented Programming Attacks - In one embodiment, a processor includes at least one execution unit and Return Oriented Programming (ROP) detection logic. The ROP detection logic may determine a ROP metric based on a plurality of control transfer events. The ROP detection logic may also determine whether the ROP metric exceeds a threshold. The ROP detection logic may also, in response to a determination that the ROP metric exceeds the threshold, provide a ROP attack notification. | 05-01-2014 |
20140281457 | METHOD FOR BOOTING A HETEROGENEOUS SYSTEM AND PRESENTING A SYMMETRIC CORE VIEW - A heterogeneous processor architecture and a method of booting a heterogeneous processor is described. A processor according to one embodiment comprises: a set of large physical processor cores; a set of small physical processor cores having relatively lower performance processing capabilities and relatively lower power usage relative to the large physical processor cores; and a package unit, to enable a bootstrap processor. The bootstrap processor initializes the homogeneous physical processor cores, while the heterogeneous processor presents the appearance of a homogeneous processor to a system firmware interface. | 09-18-2014 |
20150052377 | Method And Apparatus For A Zero Voltage Processor - Embodiments of the invention relate to a method and apparatus for a zero voltage processor sleep state. A processor may include a dedicated cache memory. A voltage regulator may be coupled to the processor to provide an operating voltage to the processor. During a transition to a zero voltage power management state for the processor, the operational voltage applied to the processor by the voltage regulator may be reduced to approximately zero and the state variables associated with the processor may be saved to the dedicated cache memory. | 02-19-2015 |
20150055778 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR A NON-DETERMINISTIC RANDOM BIT GENERATOR (NRBG) - A hardware-based digital random number generator is provided. In one embodiment, a processor includes a digital random number generator (DRNG) to condition entropy data provided by an entropy source, to generate a plurality of deterministic random bit (DRB) strings, and to generate a plurality of nondeterministic random bit (NRB) strings, and an execution unit coupled to the DRNG, in response to a first instruction to read a seed value, to retrieve one of the NRB strings from the DRNG and to store the NRB string in a destination register specified by the first instruction. | 02-26-2015 |
20150058667 | Method And Apparatus For A Zero Voltage Processor - Embodiments of the invention relate to a method and apparatus for a zero voltage processor sleep state. A processor may include a dedicated cache memory. A voltage regulator may be coupled to the processor to provide an operating voltage to the processor. During a transition to a zero voltage power management state for the processor, the operational voltage applied to the processor by the voltage regulator may be reduced to approximately zero and the state variables associated with the processor may be saved to the dedicated cache memory. | 02-26-2015 |