METHOD AND DEVICE FOR PREDICTING BRANCH INSTRUCTION BY MEANS OF HARDWARE-SOFTWARE COOPERATION

摘要

Disclosed is a method for predicting a branch instruction by means of hardware-software cooperation. The method is applied in a processor which includes a branch prediction register, a count register, and a branch predictor, and comprises: the branch prediction register acquires a bit sequence of a data length of operation data and sequentially outputs the bit sequence of the data length to the branch predictor; the count register counts the number of significant bits of the bit sequence of the data length and indicates, according to the number of significant bits of the bit sequence, the branch prediction register to sequentially output the bit sequence of the data length to the branch predictor; the branch predictor directs branch instruction prediction according to the bit sequence of the data length. Also disclosed is a device for predicting a branch instruction by means of hardware-software cooperation. By means of embodiments of the present invention, the accuracy of continuous branch prediction can be improved.