AMD patent could enable hyperthreading

OVER AT THE US trademark and patent office, there's a slightly elderly patent successfully filed by AMD back in 1999 which indicates that the firm could provide hyperthreading for its processors, if it should so wish.

The patent, numbered 5,944,816, entitled "Microprocessor configured to execute multiple threads including interrupt service routines", outlines how a CPU can execute multiple threads concurrently.

It specifically says that in one test, a CPU executed at least two threads concurrently.

The patent builds on a number of technical documents on simultaneous multithreading, including an Intel document from 1994 called Multiprocessor Specification.

So will we see a hyperthreaded Clawhammer (Athlon64)? Well the patent seems to suggest that's not outside the bounds of possibility.

You can find the reference here. µ