The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 25, 1992
Filed:
Feb. 03, 1989
David B Fite, Northboro, MA (US);
John E Murray, Acton, MA (US);
Dwight P Manley, Holliston, MA (US);
Michael M McKeon, Grafton, MA (US);
Elaine H Fite, Northboro, MA (US);
Ronald M Salett, Framingham, MA (US);
Tryggve Fossum, Northboro, MA (US);
Digital Equipment Corporation, Maynard, MA (US);
Abstract
A branch prediction is made by searching a cache memory for branch history information associated with a branch instruction. If associated information is not found in the cache, then the branch is predicted based on a predetermined branch bias for the branch instruction's opcode; otherwise, the branch is predicted based upon the associated information from the cache. The associated information in the cache preferably includes a length, displacement, and target address in addition to a prediction bit. If the cache includes associated information predicting that the branch will be taken, the target address from cache is used so long as the associated length and displacement match and the length and displacement for the branch instruction; otherwise, the target address must be computed.