Java hardware accelerator using thread manager

摘要

A Java accelerator includes a hardware unit associated with the CPU portion, the hardware unit converting stack-based instructions, such as Java bytecodes, into register-based instructions such as the instructions which are native to the CPU. A thread lifetime unit in the hardware unit is used to maintain a count of the number of bytecodes to be executed while an active thread is loaded into the system. Once this count reaches zero or below, the operation of a/the thread in the system is stopped and the Java Virtual Machine loaded into the CPU portion in order to implement its thread manager. Additionally, a single step unit in the hardware unit allows the production of debugger indications after each stack-based instruction.