Invention Grant
US08832418B2 Efficient branch target address cache entry replacement 有权
高效的分支目标地址缓存条目替换

  • Patent Title: Efficient branch target address cache entry replacement
  • Patent Title (中): 高效的分支目标地址缓存条目替换
  • Application No.: US12575951
    Application Date: 2009-10-08
  • Publication No.: US08832418B2
    Publication Date: 2014-09-09
  • Inventor: Thomas C. McDonald
  • Applicant: Thomas C. McDonald
  • Applicant Address: TW New Taipei
  • Assignee: VIA Technologies, Inc.
  • Current Assignee: VIA Technologies, Inc.
  • Current Assignee Address: TW New Taipei
  • Agent E. Alan Davis; James W. Huffman; Eric W. Cernyar
  • Main IPC: G06F9/38
  • IPC: G06F9/38 G06F9/30
Efficient branch target address cache entry replacement
Abstract:
A microprocessor includes a branch target address cache (BTAC), each entry thereof configured to store branch prediction information for at most N branch instructions. An execution unit executes a branch instruction previously fetched in a fetch quantum. Update logic determines whether the BTAC is already storing information for N branch instructions within the fetch quantum (N is at least two), updates the BTAC for the branch instruction if the BTAC is not already storing information for N branch instructions, determines whether a type of the branch instruction has a higher replacement priority than a type of the N branch instructions if the BTAC is already storing information for N branch instructions, and updates the BTAC for the branch instruction if the type of the branch instruction has a higher replacement priority than the type of the N branch instructions already stored in the BTAC.
Public/Granted literature
Information query
Patent Agency Ranking
0/0