Abstract Accurate branch prediction is essential for providing higher performance levels in modern processors.
Many branch predictors use branch execution history to identify repetitive branch behavior.
Path history provides additional information that may help separate sequences of different branch instructions with identical execution history. We present a method to implement path history in hardware-based branch prediction, and a comprehensive simulation study of branch prediction strategies that integrate path history. All Rights Reserved. The full text of is available to members of the IEEE Computer Society who have an online subscription and an e-account .