Tensilica Granted 8 New Configurable Processor Technology Patents

Update: Cadence Completes Acquisition of Tensilica (Apr 24, 2013)

Tensilica Patents Dominate Configurable Processor Domain

SANTA CLARA, CA, – May 22, 2006 –Tensilica, Inc. today announced that it has been granted eight new configurable processor technology patents. Tensilica now holds a total of 10 patents on configurable processor technology as well as several fundamental patents on processor architecture, Tensilica also has several other patents pending.

“In all, Tensilica’s 10 patents make nearly 450 claims of inventions in the rapidly evolving field of configurable-processor technology,” stated Tom Halfhill, senior analyst for In-Stat’s Microprocessor Report. “Although judging the strength of a patent portfolio by counting claims is like measuring microprocessor performance by counting megahertz, the large number of claims does indicate that Tensilica is staking out a great deal of territory.”

The recently granted patents include the following:

US  6,701,515                    
“System and Method for Dynamically Designing and Evaluating Configurable Processor Instructions”  - describes systems for modular extension of software tools for user-specified processors

US 6,760,888                     
“Automated Processor Generation System for Designing a Configurable Processor and Method for the Same”   - describes methods for generating hardware implementation and software tools (assembler, simulator, debugger) from an user-updatable specification of a processor

US 6,763,327                     
“Abstraction of Configurable Processor Functionality for Operating Systems Portability”  - describes methods and systems for generating and using hardware abstraction layers for operating system portability across configurable processors

US 6,854,046                    
“Configurable Memory Management Unit” – describes systems and methods for configuring and generating MMUs suited to a wide range of different system requirements

US 6,941,548                     
“Automatic Instruction Set Architecture Generation” – describes systems for generating optimized instruction set architecture extensions for a target application program

US 6,986,127                     
“Debugging Apparatus and Method for Systems of Configurable Processors” – describes methods and systems for generating and using debuggers for accessing and interpreting the state of configurable processors

US 7,020,854                     
“Automated Processor Generation System for Designing a Configurable Processor and Method for Same” – describes methods for generating hardware implementation and software tools for pipelined processors from configuration specifications.

US 7,036,106                     
“Automated Processor Generation System for Designing a Configurable Processor and Method for the Same” – describes systems for generating hardware implementations and software tools for processors with user-defined register files

All of Tensilica major patents also have equivalents either filed or issued in multiple international jurisdictions.

“These new patents showcase the depth of the work done by our outstanding engineering staff ,” stated Chris Rowen, president and CEO of Tensilica. “Our customers can feel reassured that we have full protection for our innovations.”

About Tensilica

Tensilica offers the broadest line of controller, CPU and specialty DSP processors on the market today, in both an off-the-shelf format via the Diamond Standard Series cores and with full designer configurability with the Xtensa processor family. Tensilica’s low-power, benchmark proven processors have been designed into high-volume products at industry leaders in the digital consumer, networking and telecommunications markets. All Tensilica processor cores are complete with a matching software development tool environment, portfolio of system simulation models, and hardware implementation tool support. For more information on Tensilica's patented approach to the creation of application-specific building blocks for SOC design, visit www.tensilica.com.