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 potentially allow them to cause damage to health, life, property, or any other interest of value. The probability of that ...

handling are done by a

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

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

instruction set In computer science, an instruction set architecture (ISA) is an abstract model that generally defines how software controls the CPU in a computer or a family of computers. A device or program that executes instructions described by that ISA, s ...

microcode In processor design, microcode serves as an intermediary layer situated between the central processing unit (CPU) hardware and the programmer-visible instruction set architecture of a computer. It consists of a set of hardware-level instructions ...

. The compiler generates nanocodes which directly control functional units,

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), ...

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 signal, analog or Digital signal (electronics), digital input signals and forwards the sel ...

s of a given

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

. 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 processors 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 (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 ...

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, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

, zero instruction set computer (ZISC) refers to a computer architecture 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 must be exact: "either it will or will not be a ...

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 group of interconnected units called neurons that send signals to one another. Neurons can be either biological cells or signal pathways. While individual neurons are simple, many of them together in a network can perfor ...

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

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

ZISC alludes to

reduced instruction set computer In electronics and computer science, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) is a computer architecture designed to simplify the individual instructions given to the computer to accomplish tasks. Compared to the instructions given to a com ...

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

memory bottleneck Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...

by blending pattern memory with pattern learning and recognition logic. Their massively

parallel computing Parallel computing is a type of computing, computation in which many calculations or Process (computing), processes are carried out simultaneously. Large problems can often be divided into smaller ones, which can then be solved at the same time. ...

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 global online newspaper focusing on topics regarding high tech, high-tech and Startup company, startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. I ...

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

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

and

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

. 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. Ownership and status '' ...

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

Person of Interest "Person of interest" is a term used by law enforcement in the United States, Canada, and other countries when identifying someone possibly involved in a criminal investigation who has not been arrested or formally accused of a crime. It has no leg ...

'', describing it as "the heart of

big data Big data primarily refers to data sets that are too large or complex to be dealt with by traditional data processing, data-processing application software, software. Data with many entries (rows) offer greater statistical power, while data with ...

" 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 ...

(CISC) to

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

assembly language In computing, assembly language (alternatively 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 bet ...

. 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 that are designed to exploit instruction-level parallelism (ILP). A VLIW processor allows programs to explicitly specify instructions to execute in parallel, whereas conve ...

(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