Expiry of x86-64 patents

By: Yuhong Bao (yuhongbao_386.delete@this.hotmail.com), April 20, 2019 1:35 pm
Room: Moderated Discussions
Jukka Larja (roskakori2006.delete@this.gmail.com) on April 19, 2019 10:44 am wrote:
> Gian-Carlo Pascutto (gcp.delete@this.sjeng.org) on April 19, 2019 9:46 am wrote:
> > Beastian (noemail.delete@this.aol.com) on April 19, 2019 9:05 am wrote:
> > > Does anyone think that the upcoming expiry of patents on the core x86-64 instruction set
> > > which includes SSE2, maybe sooner than 2023 (as the Athlon 64 was introduced in 2003) would
> > > open the flood gates for third party implementations of compatible processors?
> > >
> > > The basic architecture including importantly the memory model could freely be implemented in hardware
> > > once that core instruction set falls out of patent; I'm unclear about the amount of traction that later
> > > Intel instructions have gotten in common software, but emulation could at least ensure compatibility.
> >
> >
> > We (Mozilla) dropped support for non-SSE2 systems in 2016. The next thing would be SSE3. I
> > strongly suspect most software on your desktop still works just fine without SSE3 support.
>
> Steam Hardware Survey is a nice place to see approximate features on still-in-use
> CPUs. SSE3 is on everything, and CMPXCHG16B, LAHF and SAHF (required by Windows 8.1
> and above) are on almost everything. The latter were introduced in March 2005 (according
> to Wikipedia), but I have no idea if there's anything patentable in them.
>
> I think we (Frozenbyte) decided to require CMPXCHG16B, although we still support Windows 7, simply because
> it would be too much trouble to come up with something different for Windows (all consoles support the
> instruction or equivalent. Not sure if anyone's actually acted on the decision yet though). On the other
> hand, almost 3 % of computers not supporting SSSE3 would be too much, even if SSSE3 contained something
> useful. AVX with just 88 % penetration is not something we need to worry about in few years.
>
> -JLarja

I don't think CMPXCHG16B would be patentable any more than CMPXCHG8B would be. The same applies for things like the FSGSBASE instructions I think.
< Previous Post in ThreadNext Post in Thread >
TopicPosted ByDate
Expiry of x86-64 patentsBeastian2019/04/19 08:05 AM
  Expiry of x86-64 patentsGian-Carlo Pascutto2019/04/19 08:46 AM
    Expiry of x86-64 patentsBeastian2019/04/19 09:06 AM
    Expiry of x86-64 patentsJukka Larja2019/04/19 09:44 AM
      Expiry of x86-64 patentsGian-Carlo Pascutto2019/04/19 10:12 AM
        Expiry of x86-64 patentsJukka Larja2019/04/19 11:41 AM
          Expiry of x86-64 patentsRobert Williams2019/04/19 12:18 PM
          Expiry of x86-64 patentsGian-Carlo Pascutto2019/04/19 01:35 PM
          Expiry of x86-64 patentsIntelUser20002020/10/30 01:17 AM
            Expiry of x86-64 patentsJukka Larja2020/10/30 06:49 AM
              Expiry of x86-64 patentsme2020/10/30 08:47 AM
                Expiry of x86-64 patentsJukka Larja2020/10/30 08:52 AM
                  Expiry of x86-64 patentsMark Roulo2020/10/30 09:21 AM
                    Expiry of x86-64 patentsJukka Larja2020/10/30 10:29 AM
                      Expiry of x86-64 patentsMark Roulo2020/10/30 10:42 AM
                        Expiry of x86-64 patentsJukka Larja2020/10/30 08:04 PM
                          SIMD syntaxhobold2020/10/31 05:54 AM
                            SIMD syntaxJukka Larja2020/10/31 08:14 AM
                              SIMD syntaxhobold2020/11/01 07:22 AM
                                SIMD syntaxJukka Larja2020/11/01 10:11 AM
                                  SIMD syntaxhobold2020/11/02 04:33 AM
                          Expiry of x86-64 patentsme2020/10/31 02:01 PM
                            Expiry of x86-64 patentsJukka Larja2020/10/31 08:23 PM
                              Expiry of x86-64 patentsFoo_2020/11/01 03:48 AM
                                Expiry of x86-64 patentsJukka Larja2020/11/01 06:01 AM
                      Expiry of x86-64 patentsAdrian2020/10/30 11:02 AM
                        Expiry of x86-64 patentsBigos2020/10/30 12:20 PM
      Expiry of x86-64 patentsGeoff Langdale2019/04/19 01:52 PM
        Expiry of x86-64 patentsJukka Larja2019/04/19 08:38 PM
      Expiry of x86-64 patentsYuhong Bao2019/04/20 01:35 PM
  Expiry of x86-64 patentsDoug S2019/04/19 09:40 AM
    Expiry of x86-64 patentsBeastian2019/04/19 10:10 AM
      Expiry of x86-64 patentsRobert Williams2019/04/20 07:15 AM
        Expiry of x86-64 patentsRobert Williams2020/10/28 05:42 AM
  Expiry of x86-64 patentsanyone2019/04/20 06:11 AM
    Expiry of x86-64 patentsGroo2019/04/20 06:29 AM
      Expiry of x86-64 patentswumpus2019/04/20 07:32 AM
      Expiry of x86-64 patentsblaine2020/10/30 11:03 AM
        Expiry of x86-64 patentsDavid Kanter2020/10/30 07:59 PM
  Intel vs AMD patentsYuhong Bao2019/04/20 01:32 PM
    Intel vs AMD patentsBeastian2019/04/20 02:35 PM
  Expiry of x86-64 patentsTravis Downs2019/04/20 06:24 PM
    Expiry of x86-64 patentsnone2019/04/21 06:36 AM
      Expiry of x86-64 patentssomebody2019/11/27 09:44 AM
      Expiry of x86-64 patentsAnon32019/11/27 04:16 PM
        Expiry of x86-64 patentsTravis Downs2019/11/27 05:17 PM
      Expiry of x86-64 patentsMontaray Jack2019/11/27 11:03 PM
        Expiry of x86-64 patentsnone2019/11/28 12:57 AM
          Expiry of x86-64 patentsdmcq2019/11/28 10:20 AM
            Expiry of x86-64 patentsMontaray Jack2019/11/29 04:00 AM
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