No instruction set computing (NISC) is a computing architecture and compiler technology for designing highly efficient custom processors and hardware accelerators by allowing a compiler to have low-level control of hardware resources.

Overview

NISC is a statically scheduled horizontal nanocoded architecture (SSHNA). The term "statically scheduled" means that the operation scheduling and

Hazard A hazard is a potential source of harm. Substances, events, or circumstances can constitute hazards when their nature would allow them, even just theoretically, to cause damage to health, life, property, or any other interest of value. The probab ...

handling are done by a

compiler In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs tha ...

. The term "horizontal nanocoded" means that NISC does not have any predefined

instruction set In computer science, an instruction set architecture (ISA), also called computer architecture, is an abstract model of a computer. A device that executes instructions described by that ISA, such as a central processing unit (CPU), is called an ...

microcode In processor design, microcode (μcode) is a technique that interposes a layer of computer organization between the central processing unit (CPU) hardware and the programmer-visible instruction set architecture of a computer. Microcode is a la ...

. The compiler generates nanocodes which directly control

functional unit In computer engineering, an execution unit (E-unit or EU) is a part of the central processing unit (CPU) that performs the operations and calculations as instructed by the computer program. It may have its own internal control sequence unit (not ...

register Register or registration may refer to: Arts entertainment, and media Music * Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc. * ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller * Registration (organ), th ...

s and

multiplexer In electronics, a multiplexer (or mux; spelled sometimes as multiplexor), also known as a data selector, is a device that selects between several analog or digital input signals and forwards the selected input to a single output line. The sel ...

s of a given

datapath A datapath is a collection of functional units such as arithmetic logic units or multipliers that perform data processing operations, registers, and buses. Along with the control unit it composes the central processing unit (CPU). A larger datap ...

. Giving low-level control to the compiler enables better utilization of datapath resources, which ultimately result in better performance. The benefits of NISC technology are: * Simpler controller: no hardware scheduler, no instruction decoder * Better performance: more flexible architecture, better resource utilization * Easier to design: no need for designing instruction-sets The instruction set and controller of

processor Processor may refer to: Computing Hardware * Processor (computing) **Central processing unit (CPU), the hardware within a computer that executes a program *** Microprocessor, a central processing unit contained on a single integrated circuit (I ...

s are the most tedious and time-consuming parts to design. By eliminating these two, design of custom processing elements become significantly easier. Furthermore, the datapath of NISC processors can even be generated automatically for a given application. Therefore, designer's productivity is improved significantly. Since NISC datapaths are very efficient and can be generated automatically, NISC technology is comparable to

high level synthesis High-level synthesis (HLS), sometimes referred to as C synthesis, electronic system-level (ESL) synthesis, algorithmic synthesis, or behavioral synthesis, is an automated design process that takes an abstract behavioral specification of a digital ...

(HLS) or

C to HDL C to HDL tools convert C language or C-like computer code into a hardware description language (HDL) such as VHDL or Verilog. The converted code can then be synthesized and translated into a hardware device such as a field-programmable gate arr ...

synthesis approaches. In fact, one of the benefits of this architecture style is its capability to bridge these two technologies (custom processor design and HLS).

Zero instruction set computer

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

, zero instruction set computer (ZISC) refers to a

computer architecture In computer engineering, computer architecture is a description of the structure of a computer system made from component parts. It can sometimes be a high-level description that ignores details of the implementation. At a more detailed level, the ...

based solely on

pattern matching In computer science, pattern matching is the act of checking a given sequence of tokens for the presence of the constituents of some pattern. In contrast to pattern recognition, the match usually has to be exact: "either it will or will not be ...

and absence of (micro-)instructions in the classical sense. These chips are known for being thought of as comparable to the

neural network A neural network is a network or circuit of biological neurons, or, in a modern sense, an artificial neural network, composed of artificial neurons or nodes. Thus, a neural network is either a biological neural network, made up of biological ...

s, being marketed for the number of "synapses" and "neurons". The

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

ZISC alludes to

reduced instruction set computer In computer engineering, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) is a computer designed to simplify the individual instructions given to the computer to accomplish tasks. Compared to the instructions given to a complex instruction set comp ...

(RISC). ZISC is a hardware implementation of Kohonen networks (artificial neural networks) allowing massively parallel processing of very simple data (0 or 1). This hardware implementation was invented by Guy Paillet and Pascal Tannhof (IBM), developed in cooperation with the IBM chip factory of

Essonnes Corbeil-Essonnes () on the River Seine is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Although neighboring Évry is the official seat of the Arrondissement of Évry, the sub-prefecture buildin ...

, in France, and was commercialized by IBM. The ZISC architecture alleviates the

memory bottleneck Random-access memory (RAM; ) is a form of computer memory that can be read and changed in any order, typically used to store working data and machine code. A random-access memory device allows data items to be read or written in almost the s ...

by blending pattern memory with pattern learning and recognition logic. Their massively parallel computing solves the by allotting each "neuron" its own memory and allowing simultaneous problem-solving the results of which are settled up disputing with each other.

Applications and controversy

According to

TechCrunch TechCrunch is an American online newspaper An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical. Goi ...

, software emulations of these types of chips are currently used for image recognition by many large tech companies, such as

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and

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

. When applied to other miscellaneous pattern detection tasks, such as with text, results are said to be produced in microseconds even with chips released in 2007. Junko Yoshida, of the ''

EE Times ''EE Times'' (''Electronic Engineering Times'') is an electronics industry magazine published in the United States since 1972. EE Times is currently owned by AspenCore, a division of Arrow Electronics since August 2016. Since its acquisitio ...

'', compared the NeuroMem chip with "The Machine", a machine capable of being able to predict crimes from scanning people's faces, from

Person of Interest (TV series) ''Person of Interest'' is an American science fiction crime drama television series that aired on CBS from September 22, 2011, to June 21, 2016, with its five seasons consisting of 103 episodes. The series was created by Jonathan Nolan; execu ...

describing it as "the heart of

big data Though used sometimes loosely partly because of a lack of formal definition, the interpretation that seems to best describe Big data is the one associated with large body of information that we could not comprehend when used only in smaller am ...

" and "foreshadow nga real-life escalation in the era of massive data collection".

History

In the past, microprocessor design technology evolved from

complex instruction set computer A complex instruction set computer (CISC ) is a computer architecture in which single instructions can execute several low-level operations (such as a load from memory, an arithmetic operation, and a memory store) or are capable of multi-step o ...

(CISC) to

(RISC). In the early days of the computer industry, compiler technology did not exist and programming was done in

assembly language In computer programming, assembly language (or assembler language, or symbolic machine code), often referred to simply as Assembly and commonly abbreviated as ASM or asm, is any low-level programming language with a very strong correspondence b ...

. To make programming easier, computer architects created complex instructions which were direct representations of high level functions of high level programming languages. Another force that encouraged instruction complexity was the lack of large memory blocks. As compiler and memory technologies advanced, RISC architectures were introduced. RISC architectures need more instruction memory and require a compiler to translate high-level languages to RISC assembly code. Further advancement of compiler and memory technologies leads to emerging

very long instruction word Very long instruction word (VLIW) refers to instruction set architectures designed to exploit instruction level parallelism (ILP). Whereas conventional central processing units (CPU, processor) mostly allow programs to specify instructions to exe ...

(VLIW) processors, where the compiler controls the schedule of instructions and handles data hazards. NISC is a successor of VLIW processors. In NISC, the compiler has both horizontal and vertical control of the operations in the datapath. Therefore, the hardware is much simpler. However the control memory size is larger than the previous generations. To address this issue, low-overhead compression techniques can be used.

References

External links

US Patent for ZISC hardware
issued to IBM/G.Paillet on April 15, 1997
Image Processing Using RBF like Neural Networks: A ZISC-036 Based Fully Parallel Implementation Solving Real World and Real Complexity Industrial Problems
by K. Madani, G. de Trémiolles, and P. Tannhof

by S. Liebman on lsmarketing.com

at aboutAI.net *
French Patent Request
NISC for purely applicative engine - the sole operation of application (no lambda-calculus that is a particular case of quasi-applicative systems with two operations : application and abstraction - Curry 1958 p. 31) {{DEFAULTSORT:No Instruction Set Computing Electronic design Central processing unit Instruction processing