Indirect branch predictor for dynamic indirect branches

摘要

In an embodiment, an indirect branch predictor generates indirect branch predictions for indirect branch instructions. For relatively static branch instructions, the indirect branch predictor may be configured to use a PC corresponding to the indirect branch instruction to generate a target prediction. The indirect branch predictor may be configured to identify at least one dynamic indirect branch instruction and may use a different PC than the PC corresponding to the indirect branch instruction to generate the target prediction (e.g. the most recent previous PC associated with a taken branch (“the previous taken PC”). For some dynamic indirect branch instructions, the previous taken PC may disambiguate different target addresses (e.g. there may be a correlation between the previous taken PC and the target address of the indirect branch instruction).