No, the fast hardware implementation part of the patent seems to an essential part of the patent so it should not apply to pure software solutions.
So if I design a CPU that has a couple of op-codes that are carefully designed to implement that functionality then because it uses software then it works round the patent?
I don't see anything in the patent where another design team with the same specs couldn't have come with the same solution.
With all patents it's possible for multiple people to come up with the solution, the patent system rewards the person who files first. It's assumed they are the ones that put the most effort and money into it.
Sure, but I don't see how a bad circuit patent would make software patents any better.
Because people talk as if software patents are the only bad ones out there, just because you can find a bad software patent doesn't mean that they are all bad.