General purpose hardware to replace faulty core components that may also provide additional processor functionality

摘要

An apparatus and method is described herein for replacing faulty core components. General purpose hardware is provided to replace core pipeline components, such as execution units. In the embodiment of execution unit replacement, a proxy unit is provided, such that mapping logic is able to map instruction/operations, which correspond to faulty execution units, to the proxy unit. As a result, the proxy unit is able to receive the operations, send them to general purpose hardware for execution, and subsequently write-back the execution results to a register file; it essentially replaces the defective execution unit allowing a processor with defective units to be sold or continue operation.

主权项

1. An apparatus comprising, a processor including:
a cache memory; a plurality of processor core pipelines, wherein each of the plurality of processor core pipelines is to include a plurality of pipeline stages; and replacement hardware coupled to at least a number of pipeline stages, of the plurality of pipeline stages, in at least two of the plurality of processor core pipelines, the replacement hardware to be capable of replacing a functionality of each of the number of pipeline stages in the at least two of the plurality of processor core pipelines, wherein only a first portion of the replacement hardware is to replace a functionality of only a first portion of the number of pipeline stages in a first processor core pipeline of the plurality of processor core pipelines in response to a failure of the first portion of the number of pipeline stages in the first processor core pipeline without replacing a functionality of a second portion of the number of pipeline stages in the first processor core pipeline, and wherein only a second portion of the replacement hardware is to replace a functionality of only a portion of the number of pipeline stages in a second processor core pipeline of the plurality of processor core pipelines.