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:
May. 04, 2010
Filed:
Aug. 28, 2007
Magnus Ekman, San Francisco, CA (US);
Magnus Ekman, San Francisco, CA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
An approach for improving efficiency of speculative execution of instructions is disclosed. In one embodiment, a branch predictor entry associated with a particular branch instruction is accessed when the particular branch instruction is to be speculatively executed. The branch predictor entry may take on different values indicating whether a first possible path or a second possible path should be executed. Based upon a current value of the branch predictor entry, a predicted path for the particular branch instruction may be determined. Instructions along the predicted path may be executed, before the particular branch instruction is resolved. Once the particular branch instruction is resolved, a cost associated with executing the one or more instructions may be determined. Accordingly, the branch predictor entry may be updated by an amount that is commensurate with the cost.