ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 9 -- United States Patent no. 12,493,466, issued on Dec. 9, was assigned to Ventana Micro Systems Inc. (Cupertino, Calif.).

"Microprocessor that builds inconsistent loop that iteration count unrolled loop multi-fetch block macro-op cache entries" was invented by John G. Favor (San Francisco) and Michael N. Michael (Folsom, Calif.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A microprocessor includes a prediction unit (PRU) that predicts a sequence of fetch blocks (FBlks) in a program instruction stream, a macro-op (MOP) cache (MOC) that comprises MOC entries (MEs), a fusion engine. An ME holds MOPs into which architectural instructions of one or more FBlks are decoded. The PRU detects...