Appeal No. 2003-0194
Application No. 09/280,112
used whenever a CPU is not able to address the whole linear
address space. A memory bank select unit uses a special function
register which selects one of the memory banks. The selected
bank is then coupled with the CPU. The CPU cannot address any
other banks while processing standard instructions. All standard
instructions are then limited to the selected memory bank. To
access different locations within the memory, a different memory
bank has to be selected by the bank select unit.
Representative independent claim 2 is reproduced as follows:
2. A microcontroller comprising:
a central processing unit;
a data memory coupled with said central processing unit
being divided into n banks;
said central processing unit comprising:
-a bank select unit for selecting one of said banks in
said data memory, wherein said selected bank forms a register
file;
-an arithmetic logic unit coupled with said register file;
-a plurality of special function registers being mapped to
one of said banks in said data memory, wherein one of said
special function registers is a working register being coupled
with said arithmetic logic unit.
The examiner relies on the following references:
-2–
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