Systems for loading unaligned words and methods of operating the same

1. A method of loading a sequence of unaligned words starting from a first unaligned word address in a memory, said unaligned words comprising a plurality of indexed portions crossing a plurality of word boundaries, the method comprising:

loading a first aligned word by executing a load instruction, said first aligned word commencing at a first aligned word address rounded from said first unaligned word address;

identifying an index representing the location of the first unaligned word address relative to the first aligned word address;

loading a second aligned word commencing at a second aligned word address rounded from a second unaligned word address;

combining indexed portions of the first and second aligned words using the identified index to construct a first unaligned word;

loading at least one subsequent third aligned word commencing at a third aligned word address from a subsequent third unaligned word address plus a second offset; and

combining indexed portions of the subsequent third aligned word and the second aligned word to construct a subsequent second unaligned word.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the second unaligned word address is said first unaligned word address plus an offset.

3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the subsequent third unaligned word address is the first unaligned word address plus the second offset.

4. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the index is stored as a state.

5. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the index is a multibit index.

6. A method according to claim 5 , wherein the multibit index comprises n bits, where n is the maximum number of bits required to represent the misalignment of the word.

7. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of combining indexed portions is implemented by loading indexed portions of the first and second aligned words from respective first and second registers into a destination register for the first unaligned word.

8. A computer system comprising a memory holding unaligned words at unaligned word addresses, each unaligned word comprising a plurality of indexed portions crossing a word boundary; and

an execution unit arranged to execute an instruction sequence which implements the following steps:

executing a load instruction to load a first aligned word commencing at a first aligned word address rounded from a first unaligned word address;

said load instruction identifying an index representing the location of the first unaligned word address relative to the first aligned word address;

loading a second aligned word commencing at a second aligned word address rounded from a second unaligned word address;

combining indexed portions of the first and second aligned words using the identified index to construct a first unaligned word;

loading at least one subsequent third aligned word commencing at a third aligned word address rounded from a subsequent third aligned word address plus a second offset; and

combining indexed portions of the subsequent third aligned word and the second aligned word to construct a subsequent second unaligned word.

9. A computer system according to claim 8 , which comprises means for storing the index as a state.

10. A computer system according to claim 8 , which comprises a register file comprising first and second registers for holding the first and second aligned words and a destination register for holding the first unaligned word.

11. A computer program product comprising program code means which when loaded into a computer cause the computer to effect the following steps:

loading a first aligned word commencing at a first aligned word address rounded from a first unaligned word address;

identifying an index representing the location of the first unaligned word address relative to the first aligned word address;

loading a second aligned word commencing at a second aligned word address rounded from a second unaligned word address;

combining indexed portions of the first and second aligned words using the identified index to construct a first unaligned word, wherein loading said first aligned word is implemented using a load instruction which identifies said index; loading a third aligned word commencing at a third aligned word address rounded from a third unaligned word address; and

combining indexed portions of the second and third aligned words using the identified index to construct a second unaligned word.

12. A computer program product comprising program code means including a sequence of instructions comprising:

a first instruction which identifies a first unaligned word address and an index representing the location of the first unaligned word address relative to its rounded first aligned word address, the instruction causing the load of a first word from said first rounded aligned word address;

a second instruction which identifies the first unaligned word address plus a first offset together with said index, and which causes the loading of a second aligned word commencing at a second aligned word address rounded from the first aligned word address plus the first offset;

a third instruction which causes indexed portions of the first and second aligned words to be combined using the identified index to construct a first unaligned word;

a fourth instruction which causes the loading of a third aligned word commencing at a third aligned word address rounded from the first unaligned word address plus a second offset; and a fifth instruction which causes indexed portions of the second and third aligned words to be combined using the identified index to construct a second unaligned word.