| 摘要 |
<p>An instruction buffer circuit performs jumps within an instruction buffer (124), thereby eliminating the need to re-load the instruction buffer when the target instruction is in the instruction buffer. The instruction buffer circuit uses relative offset pointer registers (302, 342) that indicate the number of instruction bytes that fall in front of and behind the read pointer (122) address in the instruction buffer (124). When a jump relative instruction is executed, the relative displacement for performing the jump is compared to the relative offset values to determine whether the target instruction is in the instruction buffer (124). If the target instruction is in the instruction buffer (124), a flush and corresponding re-load of the instruction buffer is inhibited, and the read pointer (122) is bumped to the target instruction. The target instruction is thereby read from the instruction buffer (124) without the delay normally associated with having to re-load the instruction buffer.</p> |
