Perceptron branch predictor with virtualized weights

摘要

According to an aspect, virtualized weight perceptron branch prediction is provided in a processing system. A selection is performed between two or more history values at different positions of a history vector based on a virtualization map value that maps a first selected history value to a first weight of a plurality of weights, where a number of history values in the history vector is greater than a number of the weights. The first selected history value is applied to the first weight in a perceptron branch predictor to determine a first modified virtualized weight. The first modified virtualized weight is summed with a plurality of modified virtualized weights to produce a prediction direction. The prediction direction is output as a branch predictor result to control instruction fetching in a processor of the processing system.