Coprocessor forwarding load and store instructions with displacement to main processor for cache coherent execution when program counter value falls within predetermined ranges

摘要

A coprocessor (14) may be used to perform one or more specialized operations that can be off-loaded from a primary or general purpose processor (12). It is important to allow efficient communication and interfacing between the processor (12) and the coprocessor (14). In one embodiment, a coprocessor (14) generates and provides instructions (200, 220) to an instruction pipe (20) in the processor (12). Because the coprocessor (14) generated instructions are part of the standard instruction set of the processor (12), cache (70) coherency is easy to maintain. Also, circuitry (102) in coprocessor (14) may perform an operation on data while circuitry (106) in coprocessor (14) is concurrently generating processor instructions (200, 220).