| 摘要 |
Conditional branch instructions that terminate code loops are detected, and a Branch History Register (BHR) is prevented from updating to store the loop-ending branch evaluations. This prevents the branch that implements loop iterations from displacing other branch evaluation histories from the BHR. The loop-ending branch may be detected statically, by a compiler using a specific type branch instruction or inserting indicator bits in the op code of a loop-ending branch instruction. A loop-ending branch instruction may be detected dynamically as any backwards branch, or by storing the PC of the last one or several branch instructions upon updating the BHR, and checking the PC of a branch instruction against the Last Branch PC (LBPC) register(s). If the branch PC matches, update of the BHR is suppressed. Keeping loop iteration branches out of the BHR improves branch prediction training time and accuracy.
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