CUMULATIVE CONFIDENCE FETCH THROTTLING

A method and apparatus to utilize a fetching scheme for instructions in a processor to limit the expenditure of power caused by the speculative execution of branch instructions is provided. Also provided is a computer readable storage device encoded with data for adapting a manufacturing facility to...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: DUNDAS JAMES, DENMAN MARVIN, RUPLEY JEFF, BURGESS BRADLEY GENE
Format: Patent
Sprache:eng
Schlagworte:
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Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:A method and apparatus to utilize a fetching scheme for instructions in a processor to limit the expenditure of power caused by the speculative execution of branch instructions is provided. Also provided is a computer readable storage device encoded with data for adapting a manufacturing facility to create an apparatus. The method includes calculating a cumulative confidence measure based on one or more outstanding conditional branch instructions. The method also includes reducing prefetching operations in response to detecting that the cumulative confidence measure is below a first threshold level.