Programmable pipeline fabric having mechanism to terminate signal propagation

摘要

A method and apparatus for storing and using "register use" information to determine when a register is being used for the last time so that power savings may be achieved is disclosed. The register use information may take the form of "last read" information for a particular register. The last read information may be used to force the value of the register, after being read, to zero or to clock only that register while masking off the other registers. Several methods and hardware variations are disclosed for using the register use information to achieve power savings.