Microsoft Corporation
Limiting replay of load-based control independent (CI) instructions in speculative misprediction recovery in a processor

Abstract:

Limiting replay of load-based control independent (CI) instructions in speculative misprediction recovery in a processor. In misprediction recovery, load-based CI instructions are designated as load-based CI, data dependent (CIDD) instructions if a load-based CI instruction consumed forwarded-stored data of a store-based instruction. During the misprediction recovery, replayed load-based CIDD instructions will reevaluate an accurate source of memory load the correct data instead of consuming potentially faulty data that may have been forwarded by a store-based instruction that may have only existed in a mispredicted instruction control flow path. Limiting the replay of load-based CI instructions to only determined CIDD load-based instructions can reduce execution delay and power consumption in an instruction pipeline.