Method and system for branch prediction
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
InventorFrancesco Pessolano
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and method for predicting the outcome of a conditional branch within a computer system, the method comprising the steps of identifying (105) the occurrence of a conditional branch, obtaining (106) data relating to system activity since a previous branch, comparing (110) said data with data relating to previous system activity, and predicting (108) the branch outcome based on such comparison. An activity monitor (FIGS. 3-20) may be used to provide the data relating to system activity.
Claims8
Apparatus for predicting the outcome of a conditional branch within a computer system, the apparatus comprising means for identifying the occurrence of a conditional branch, means (20) for obtaining data relating to system activity since a previous branch, means for comparing said data with data relating to previous system activity, and means for predicting the branch outcome based on such comparison.
Apparatus according to claim 7, wherein data relating to the activity of the system is only used for branch outcome prediction if the confidence of accuracy of branch outcome prediction using branch history is relatively low.
A method for predicting the outcome of a conditional branch within a computer system, the method comprising the steps of identifying (105) the occurrence of a conditional branch, obtaining (106) data relating to system activity since a previous branch, comparing (110) said data with data relating to previous system activity, and predicting (108) the branch outcome based on such comparison.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.