Method for alternate preferred time delivery of load data

A system of delivering data in a preferred order to execution units of a processor in a data processing system to enable just-in-time delivery of requested data, said system comprising:

• means for determining distances of dependency (DoD) for data subject to successive load instructions, the DoD representing time intervals between issuance of load instructions and uses of respectively loaded data by execution units;
• means for selecting additional dependency values utilizing said DoD, said additional dependency values utilized in place of said DoD when said DoD is unavailable, wherein said DoD and said additional dependencies are arrange in a hierarchical manner such that said DoD is the highest ranking dependency;
• and
• means for loading said requested data from an internal cache of said processor after number of cycles corresponding to said DoD.

A data processing system for enabling just in time delivery of load instructions to a data cache, said system comprising:

• a processor;
• instruction processing logic within said processor which appends a plurality of priority fields to a load instruction, said priority fields holding dependency values, wherein at least one of said dependency values corresponds to a number of cycles between a time of launching a load instruction by said processor and a time that the requested data is actually needed by a downstream dependency;
• means for placing said load instruction in a particular location within a time-ordered queue, wherein said particular location corresponds to a value of one of said dependency fields;
• and
• means for issuing said load instruction from said time-ordered queue to said data cache at a cycle which allows said data to be loaded at said time indicated by said location within said time-ordered queue.