Processor core and method for managing program counter redirection in an out-of-order processor pipeline

A method for controlling program counter redirection in an out-of-order order processor pipeline, the method comprising:

• associating, at a first stage in an out-of-order processor pipeline, a first instruction identification tag with a first control transfer instruction and a second instruction identification tag with a second control transfer instruction, wherein the first instruction identification tag and the second instruction identification tag identify a program order of the first control transfer instruction relative to the second control transfer instruction;
• detecting a first conditional program counter redirect misprediction during execution of the first control transfer instruction in a second stage of the processor pipeline;
• storing the first instruction identification tag in a register of a mispredict instruction identification checker;
• detecting a second conditional program counter redirect misprediction during execution of the second control transfer instruction in the second stage of the processor pipeline;
• comparing the second instruction identification tag to the first instruction identification tag stored in the register of the mispredict instruction identification checker;
• and
• if the comparison of the second instruction identification tag to the first instruction identification tag indicates that the second control transfer instruction executed out of program order relative to the first control transfer instruction, generating a program counter redirect enable signal, whereby the program counter redirect enable signal causes an instruction fetch portion of the processor pipeline to fetch instructions according to a program counter value associated with the second control transfer instruction.

A method for providing a processor core having an out-of-order pipeline, comprising:

• providing an instruction identification generator that generates instruction identification tags used to identify a program order of instructions;
• and
• providing a mispredict instruction identification checker that compares a first instruction identification tag associated with a first control transfer instruction to a second instruction identification tag stored in a register of the mispredict instruction identification checker, the second identification tag being associated with a second control transfer instruction,
• wherein if the comparison of the first instruction identification tag and the second instruction identification tag indicates that the first control transfer instruction executed out of program order relative to the second control transfer instruction, the mispredict instruction identification checker generates a signal that enables instruction fetching to be redirected in accordance with a program counter value associated with the first control transfer instruction.