anonymous (nospam@nospam.com) on 7/25/04 wrote:
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>() on 7/25/04 wrote:
>---------------------------
>>>- U.S. Patent 6549821 (loadable microcode)
>>
>>Under that number I get "Stereolithographic method and apparatus for packaging electronic components and resulting structures" at www.uspto.gov
>>site.
>>
>
>The patent number listed on Chip Architect is apparently wrong. The one I was referring
>to was U.S. 6542981, "Microcode upgrade and special function support by executing
>RISC instruction to invoke resident microcode".
>
>Intel also has a number of other patents on methods of locking up microcode with encryption and digital signatures.
>

Hm, the patent you mention refers to Itanium in several places. I doubt that Pentium through Prescott mechanisms meet its complexity.

Look at patent #5,732,207, it is the one I was talking about in my previous post. Filing date (February 28, 1995)coincides roughly with the production of first Pentium CPUs.
What is even more interesting is that one of the inventors was Patrick Gelsinger.