US 11,941,403 B2
Selective prediction based on correlation between a given instruction and a subset of a set of monitored instructions ordinarily used to generate predictions for that given instruction
Houdhaifa Bouzguarrou, Valbonne (FR); Guillaume Bolbenes, Antibes (FR); Thibaut Elie Lanois, Antibes (FR); and Frederic Claude Marie Piry, Cagnes-sur-Mer (FR)
Assigned to Arm Limited, Cambridge (GB)
Filed by Arm Limited, Cambridge (GB)
Filed on Jun. 19, 2020, as Appl. No. 16/906,259.
Prior Publication US 2021/0397455 A1, Dec. 23, 2021
Int. Cl. G06F 9/38 (2018.01)
CPC G06F 9/3848 (2013.01) [G06F 9/3806 (2013.01); G06F 9/3832 (2013.01); G06F 9/3844 (2013.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A data processing apparatus comprising:
prediction circuitry to store, with respect to each of a plurality of predictable instructions in a stream, an absolute or relative address of each instruction of a set of monitored instructions in the stream, and to use at least one of the absolute or relative address of each instruction of the set of monitored instructions of each of the predictable instructions to generate predictions for the predictable instructions;
processing circuitry to receive the predictions from the prediction circuitry and to execute the predictable instructions in the stream using the predictions; and
programmable instruction correlation parameter storage circuitry to store a given correlation parameter indicative of a correlation between a given predictable instruction of the predictable instructions in the stream and a subset of the set of monitored instructions of the given predictable instruction, to assist the prediction circuitry in generating the predictions, wherein:
the programmable instruction correlation parameter storage circuitry is adapted to store the given correlation parameter by storing a reference to the given predictable instruction and an absolute or relative address of each instruction of the subset of the set of monitored instructions, and
if the programmable instruction correlation parameter storage circuitry is currently storing the given correlation parameter, the prediction circuitry is adapted to generate a given prediction relating to the given predictable instruction based on an outcome of each instruction of the subset of the set of monitored instructions indicated by the absolute or relative address of each instruction of the subset of the set of monitored instructions,
otherwise, the prediction circuitry is adapted to generate the given prediction relating to the given predictable instruction based on the absolute or relative address of each instruction of the set of monitored instructions of the given predictable instruction.