Cortex-A8 R2P2.pdf - ARM Information Center

Program Flow Prediction5.2 Predicted instructionsThis section shows the instructions that the processor predicts. Unless otherwisespecified, the list applies to ARM, Thumb-2, and ThumbEE instructions. See the ARMArchitecture Reference Manual for more information about instructions or addressingmodes.The flow prediction hardware predicts the following instructions:• B conditional• B unconditional• BL• BLX(1) immediateThe BL and BLX(1) instructions act as function calls and push the return addressand ARM or Thumb state onto the return stack.• BLX(2) registerThe BLX(2) instruction acts as a function call and pushes the return address andARM or Thumb state onto the return stack.• BXThe BX r14 instruction acts as a function return and pops the return address andARM or Thumb state from the return stack.• LDM(1) with PC in the register list in ARM stateThe LDM instruction with r13 specified as the base register acts as a function returnand pops the return address and ARM or Thumb state from the return stack.• POP with PC in register list in Thumb stateThe POP instruction acts as a function return and pops the return address and ARMor Thumb state from the return stack.• LDM with PC in register list in Thumb or ThumbEE stateThe LDM instruction with r13 specified as the base register, or r9 specified as thebase register in ThumbEE state acts as a function return and pops the returnaddress and ARM or Thumb state from the return stack.• LDR with PC destinationThe LDR instruction with r13 specified as the base register, or r9 specified as thebase register in ThumbEE state, acts as function return and pops the returnaddress and ARM or Thumb state from the return stack.ARM DDI 0344E Copyright © 2006-2008 ARM Limited. All rights reserved. 5-3