Importance

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Abstract

According to one aspect of the invention, an apparatus for providing the source address of an instruction which causes a branch to be taken (e.g., instructs the processor to transfer the flow of execution) is described. In one embodiment, a processor includes a circuit coupled to a source address storage area. In response to the processor executing an instruction which instructs the processor to transfer the flow of execution to another instruction, the circuit stores in the source address storage area the address of the instruction which is causing the transfer in flow of execution. According to another aspect of the invention, a method for profiling is provided. According to this method, a starting address for execution is stored. Then for the instruction currently being executed, it is determined if that instruction will cause a branch from a source address to a destination address. If it was determined a branch will be taken, then the source address of the branch is stored in a source address storage area, the destination address of the branch is stored in another storage area, and a handler is executed. The handler stores indications indicating the instructions identified by the addresses within the address range defined by the starting address and the source address have been executed.

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First Claim