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. 09, 2016
Filed:
Mar. 15, 2013
Qualcomm Incorporated, San Diego, CA (US);
Rodney Wayne Smith, Raleigh, NC (US);
Jeffery M. Schottmiller, Raleigh, NC (US);
Michael Scott McIlvaine, Raleigh, NC (US);
Brian Michael Stempel, Raleigh, NC (US);
Melinda J. Brown, Raleigh, NC (US);
Daren Eugene Streett, Cary, NC (US);
QUALCOMM Incorporated, San Diego, CA (US);
Abstract
An apparatus and method for executing call branch and return branch instructions in a processor by utilizing a link register stack. The processor includes a branch counter that is initialized to zero, and is set to zero each time the processor decodes a link register manipulating instruction other than a call branch instruction. The branch counter is incremented by one each time a call branch instruction is decoded and an address is pushed onto the link register stack. In response to decoding a return branch instruction and provided the branch counter is not zero, a target address for the decoded return branch instruction is popped off the link register stack, the branch counter is decremented, and there is no need to check the target address for correctness.