BRANCH TARGET BUFFER RUN-AHEAD

Organization Name

Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Inventor(s)

Julio Gago Alonso of Barcelona ES

Santiago Galan of Molins de Rei ES

Antonio Juan Hormigo of Barcelona ES

Ivan Pizarro of Hospitalet de Llobregat ES

BRANCH TARGET BUFFER RUN-AHEAD

This abstract first appeared for US patent application 18374273 titled 'BRANCH TARGET BUFFER RUN-AHEAD

Original Abstract Submitted

Branch target buffer structures are provided. A device can include a hierarchy of branch target buffers storing entries corresponding to branch instructions, the hierarchy of branch target buffers including respective branch target buffers that have progressively slower access times. The device can include a first program counter configured to generate a first program counter value associated with a next instruction of an executing application. The device can include a second program counter configured to predict a second program counter value that is associated with a subsequent instruction of the executing application that is after the next instruction. The device can include first branch prediction circuitry configured to populate a branch target buffer of the branch target buffers based on the second program counter value.