Concurrent prediction of branch addresses and update of register contents
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsMichael K. Gschwind, Valentina Salapura
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A value to be used in register-indirect branching is predicted and concurrently stored in a selected location accessible to one or more instructions. The value may be a target address used by an indirect branch and the selected location may be a hardware register, providing concurrent prediction of branch addresses and the update of register contents.
Claims16
A computer program product for facilitating processing within a computing environment, the computer program product comprising:
- a computer readable storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for performing a method comprising:
- predicting, using a processor of the computing environment, a predicted value to be used in register-indirect branching;
- storing the predicted value in a selected location accessible to one or more instructions of the computing environment, the storing being performed concurrently to processing of a register-indirect branch, and the selected location being in addition to another location used to store an instruction address;
- and
- using the predicted value in speculative processing that includes the register-indirect branch.
A computer system for facilitating processing within a computing environment, the computer system comprising:
- a memory;
- and
- a processor in communication with the memory, wherein the computer system is configured to perform a method, said method comprising:
- predicting a predicted value to be used in register-indirect branching;
- storing the predicted value in a selected location accessible to one or more instructions of the computing environment, the storing being performed concurrently to processing of a register-indirect branch, and the selected location being in addition to another location used to store an instruction address;
- and
- using the predicted value in speculative processing that includes the register-indirect branch.
16-20. (canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.