Patent ID: 6338133
Filing Date: 2002-01-08
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A method for dispatching of instructions in a data processing system comprising the steps of:determining a current utilization measure for one or more execution units in said data processing system, wherein said current utilization measure is a number of instructions queued at said one or more execution units; setting a threshold value for each execution unit, wherein an individual threshold is established for each execution unit, wherein said threshold value is selected based on characteristics of each of said plurality of execution units, and said threshold value is a number corresponding to the maximum desired number of instructions queued at said execution unit above which no speculative dispatch occurs; comparing said number of instructions queued at each of said execution units with said threshold value of each of said execution units, respectively, to produce a series of results, and ORing said series of results, wherein said ORing yields a false output when no execution unit is at its threshold, and a true output when any one of said plurality of execution units is at its threshold; and dispatching a speculative branch instruction to a selected execution unit only when said ORing step yields said false output indicating that said current utilization measure is less than said predetermined threshold value.