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:
Nov. 29, 2016
Filed:
Jan. 27, 2014
Via Technologies, Inc., New Taipei, TW;
Rodney E. Hooker, Austin, TX (US);
Terry Parks, Austin, TX (US);
John Michael Greer, Austin, TX (US);
VIA ALLIANCE SEMICONDUCTOR CO., LTD., Shanghai, CN;
Abstract
A microprocessor includes a predicting unit and a control unit. The control unit controls the predicting unit to accumulate a history of characteristics of executed instructions and makes predictions related to subsequent instructions based on the history while the microprocessor is running a first thread. The control unit also detects a transition from running the first thread to running a second thread and controls the predicting unit to selectively suspend accumulating the history and making the predictions using the history while running the second thread. The predicting unit makes static predictions while running the second thread. The selectivity may be based on the privilege level, identity or length of the second thread, static prediction effectiveness during a previous execution instance of the thread, whether the transition was made due to a system call, and whether the second thread is an interrupt handler.