Patent ID: 8166279

Claim:
A method for predictive decoding comprising: fetching a load tagged pointer instruction, the load tagged pointer instruction comprising an associated pointer, the pointer having an associated tag and an associated indicator; accessing a predictor containing predictor information for the fetched load tagged pointer instruction including prior instruction execution characteristics; obtaining the predictor information for the fetched load tagged pointer instruction from the predictor; determining whether the predictor information indicates a null value or a non-null value for the pointer associated with the load tagged pointer instruction; analyzing a predictor confidence in response to determining that the predictor information indicates a null value for the pointer associated with the load tagged pointer instruction, wherein analyzing the predictor confidence comprises: generating a safe decode sequence in response to determining that the predictor confidence is weak; and generating a fast null decode sequence in response to determining that the predictor confidence is strong; and generating a fast decode sequence in response to determining that the predictor information indicates a non-null value for the pointer associated with the load tagged pointer instruction.