System and method for using a local condition code register for accelerating conditional instruction execution in a pipeline processor

A pipeline processor comprising:

• a plurality of pipelines to execute instructions;
• a first condition code register associated with a first pipeline;
• a second condition code register associated with a second pipeline;
• a third condition code register configured to receive a condition code value from execution stage logic of the second pipeline, wherein the first condition code register and the second condition code register are updated with the condition code value from the third condition code register;
• and
• a condition code indicator, the condition code indicator configured to indicate whether the second condition code register contains a most recent condition code value, wherein the pipeline processor is configured to update the most recent condition code value of the first condition code register and the most recent condition code value of the second condition code register when a floating point update instruction is executed and wherein the processor is configured to retrieve the most recent condition code value from one of the first condition code register and the second condition code register based on the condition code indicator and to determine whether to execute a conditional instruction in response to the retrieved most recent condition code value.

A pipeline processor comprising:

• means for saving a most recent condition code value to a first condition code register when saving the most recent condition code value to a second condition code register;
• means for setting a condition code indicator in response to an instruction that sets the most recent condition code value when processed, wherein a first value of the condition code indicator indicates that the second condition code register has the most recent condition code value and wherein a second value of the condition code indicator indicates that the second condition code register has a condition code value that is different from the most recent condition code value;
• means for retrieving the most recent condition code value from one of the first condition code register and the second condition code register based on the condition code indicator;
• and
• means for determining whether a conditional instruction should be executed in response to the retrieved most recent condition code value.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium including program code that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to:

• save a most recent condition code value to a first condition code register when saving the most recent condition code to a second condition code register, wherein the first condition code register is associated with a first pipeline and wherein the second condition code register is associated with a second pipeline;
• set a condition code indicator to have a first value or a second value in response to an instruction that sets the most recent condition code value when processed, wherein the first value of the condition code indicator indicates that the second condition code register has the most recent condition code value and wherein the second value of the condition code indicator indicates that the second condition code register has a condition code value that is different from the most recent condition code value;
• retrieve the most recent condition code value from one of the first condition code register and the second condition code register based on the condition code indicator;
• and
• determine whether a conditional instruction should be executed in response to the retrieved most recent condition code value.