CHAINING AND HAZARD APPARATUS AND METHOD

An apparatus and method for detecting data conflicts in a computer system and for throttling execution of instructions where data conflicts exist. The present invention comprises circuitry for detecting data conflict problems in a computer system. The circuit of the present invention comprises a plurality of registers associated with each processor in the system. The registers are used to store a range of elements to be written by the associated processor and a plurality of ranges of elements to be read by the associated processor. These ranges are then compared against data accesses by other processors in the computer system and where a data conflict exists, a circuit is provided for determining which processor will be allowed to continue processing and which processor will be prevented from continuing processing. The circuitry ensures the processor completes processing of instructions in a logical manner giving expected results.