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. 15, 2017
Filed:
Sep. 13, 2012
Timothy H. Heil, Sammamish, WA (US);
Brent F. Hilgart, Rochester, MN (US);
Andrew D. Hilton, Durham, NC (US);
Timothy H. Heil, Sammamish, WA (US);
Brent F. Hilgart, Rochester, MN (US);
Andrew D. Hilton, Durham, NC (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A branch history table cache is a write cache that stores values of branch history counters written to a branch history table. An update to a branch history table counter is reflected in both the branch history table cache and the branch history table. Before a branch history table counter is updated, a check is made to see if the branch history table counter is in the cache. If not, the branch history table counter is updated based on a value of the branch history table counter that was saved during fetch of the branch history table counter. If, however, the branch history table counter value is in the cache, the value in the cache is used to update the branch history table counter. All branches that use the branch history table counter update the correct counter value, improving processor performance by providing more accurate predictions of branches taken.