Patent ID: 7024545

Claim:
A branch prediction method comprising: receiving a fetch address; detecting a first level cache does not contain a first branch prediction information corresponding to the fetch address; determining whether a second level cache contains a second branch prediction information corresponding to said fetch address, said second branch prediction information comprising a subset of said first branch prediction information; rebuilding said first branch prediction information in response to determining said second level cache contains said second branch prediction information, wherein said rebuilding comprises: receiving said second branch prediction information; receiving a group of instructions corresponding to the fetch address; utilizing the second branch prediction information to identify one or more predicted taken branches within the group of instructions; generating third branch prediction information by decoding each of the identified one or more predicted taken branches to determine a type of each of the one or more predicted taken branches, and determining a size of any immediate or displacement data for each of the one or more predicted taken branches; and combining said second branch prediction information with said third branch prediction information; storing said combined second and third branch prediction information as said first branch prediction information in a first entry of said first level cache, wherein said first entry corresponds to said fetch address.