Method for synchronization of arithmetic exceptions in central processing units having pipelined execution units simultaneously executing instructions

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The aforementioned and other features are accomplished, according to the present invention, by providing an instruction, hereinafter referred to as the DRAIN instruction, and apparatus supporting that instruction, that permits all instructions for which execution has been initiated, but has not been completed when the DRAIN instruction is initiated, to be completed before further instructions can be executed in the data processing system.
The invention also provides for an arithmetic exception summary mask for scalar and vector registers that designates which registers received exceptional results.
The DRAIN instruction is used to respond to the detection of an arithmetic exception within the data processing context environment in which the exception has been identified.
The same arithmetic exception within a different data processing context environment can have different implications.
These and other features of the present invention will be understood upon reading of the following description along with the drawings.