Target-frequency based indirect jump prediction for high-performance processors

Abstract

A frequency-based prediction of indirect jumps executing in a computing environment is provided. Illustratively, a computing environment comprises a prediction engine that processes data representative of indirect jumps performed by the exemplary computing environment according to a selected frequency-based prediction paradigm. Operatively, the exemplary prediction engine can keep track of targets, in a table, taken for each indirect jump and program context (e.g., branch history and/or path information) of an exemplary computing program. Further, the prediction engine can also store a frequency counter associated with each target in the exemplary table. Illustratively, the frequency counter can record the number of times a target was taken in the recent past executions of an observed one or more indirect jump. The prediction engine can supply the target address of an indirect jump based on the values of the frequency counters of each stored target address.

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