Method and apparatus for managing the execution of instructons w

Details Method and apparatus for managing the execution of instructons w Method and apparatus for managing the execution of instructons w

1997-02-21

1998-08-11

Lim, Krisna

395376, 395584, 395586, G06F 938

Patent

active

057940274

ABSTRACT:
A small buffer called a branch-anticipate buffer (BAB) is used to store groups of instructions which are likely to be required from the instruction cache (I-cache) when an instruction prefetch miss occurs. When a prefetch miss occurs, the BAB is checked to see if instructions corresponding to the target address are available. If they are available, these instructions are copied into an appropriate buffer. If the instructions corresponding to the target address are unavailable, these instructions are fetched from the I-cache and placed into a buffer and, selectively, into the BAB. The BAB only maintains branch target addresses that have not been previously scanned and that cannot be prefetched in time. This allows for smaller buffer sizes, and resulting quicker access time, when checking the BAB for instructions to be executed by a processor.

REFERENCES:
patent: 4200927 (1980-04-01), Hughes et al.
patent: 4298927 (1981-11-01), Berglund et al.
patent: 4679141 (1987-07-01), Pomerene et al.
patent: 4691277 (1987-09-01), Kronstadt et al.
patent: 4714994 (1987-12-01), Oklobdzija et al.
patent: 4763245 (1988-08-01), Emma et al.
patent: 4775927 (1988-10-01), Hester et al.
patent: 4881170 (1989-11-01), Morisada
patent: 4943908 (1990-07-01), Emma et al.
patent: 4984154 (1991-01-01), Hanatani et al.
patent: 4991080 (1991-02-01), Emma et al.
patent: 5075840 (1991-12-01), Grohoski et al.
patent: 5127091 (1992-06-01), Boufarah et al.
patent: 5127092 (1992-06-01), Gupta et al.
patent: 5142634 (1992-08-01), Fite et al.
patent: 5146570 (1992-09-01), Hester et al.
patent: 5163140 (1992-11-01), Stiles et al.
patent: 5168557 (1992-12-01), Shibuya
patent: 5170476 (1992-12-01), Laasko et al.
patent: 5226126 (1993-07-01), McFarland et al.
patent: 5230068 (1993-07-01), Van Dyke et al.
patent: 5233702 (1993-08-01), Emma et al.
patent: 5265213 (1993-11-01), Weiser et al.
patent: 5313634 (1994-05-01), Eickemeyer
patent: 5327547 (1994-07-01), Stiles et al.
patent: 5386519 (1995-01-01), Nakamura et al.
patent: 5442756 (1995-08-01), Grochowski et al.
patent: 5448705 (1995-09-01), Nguyen et al.
patent: 5481685 (1996-01-01), Nguyen et al.
patent: 5499355 (1996-03-01), Krishnamohan et al.
patent: 5509130 (1996-04-01), Trauben et al.
patent: 5524224 (1996-06-01), Denman et al.
patent: 5539911 (1996-07-01), Nguyen et al.
patent: 5560032 (1996-09-01), Nguyen et al.
"IBM RISC System/6000 Technology", IBM Corporation, 1990, Order # SA23-2619-00.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Method and apparatus for managing the execution of instructons w does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Method and apparatus for managing the execution of instructons w, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method and apparatus for managing the execution of instructons w will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-401164