Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus employing lookahead to reduce memory bank contention for decoupled operand references

US5323489A · kind A · utility

66Cited by
8References
12Claims
0Family size

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateNov 14, 1991
Grant dateJun 21, 1994
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 14, 2011

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F12/0215
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A data storage system for interleaved memory banks employs a lookahead search of data request addresses to reduce the impact of bank collisions. The system permits out of order load and store referencing patterns. Status of the memory systems individual banks is maintained by a scoreboard which contains the instantaneous status of each memory bank, and a pipeline which contains upcoming transitions of banks from the active to the inactive state. Out of order operations is achieved by selecting the oldest operand reference whose banks are not currently active. Reordering of elements is achieved by assigning a sequence number to each operand reference as it becomes available.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.