A method and apparatus are provided for processing far jump-call branch
instructions within a processor in a manner which reduces the number of
stalls of the processor pipeline. The processor includes an apparatus,
for providing a fallback far jump-call speculative target address that
corresponds to a current far jump-call branch instruction. The
microprocessor apparatus includes a far jump-call branch target buffer
and a fallback speculative target address generator. The far jump-call
branch target buffer stores a plurality of code segment bases and offsets
corresponding to a plurality of previously executed far jump-call branch
instructions, and determines if a hit for the current far jump-call
branch instruction is contained therein. The fallback speculative target
address generator is coupled to the far jump-call branch target buffer.
In the event of a miss in the far jump-call branch target buffer, the
fall back speculative target address generator generates the fallback far
jump-call speculative target address from a current code segment base and
a target offset, the target offset corresponding to the current far
jump-call branch instruction.