Stream buffers for high-performance computer memory system
US5761706A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 1, 1994 |
| Grant date | Jun 2, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 1, 2014 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F2212/6026
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Method and apparatus for a filtered stream buffer coupled to a memory and a processor, and operating to prefetch data from the memory. The filtered stream buffer includes a cache block storage area and a filter controller. The filter controller determines whether a pattern of references has a predetermined relationship, and if so, prefetches stream data into the cache block storage area. Such stream data prefetches are particularly useful in vector processing computers, where once the processor starts to fetch a vector, the addresses of future fetches can be predicted based in the pattern of past fetches. According to various aspects of the present invention, the filtered stream buffer further includes a history table, a validity indicator which is associated with the cache block storage area and indicates which cache blocks, if any, are valid. According to yet another aspect of the present invention, the filtered stream buffer controls random access memory (RAM) chips to stream the plurality of consecutive cache blocks from the RAM into the cache block storage area. According to yet another aspect of the present invention, the stream data includes data for a plurality of strided c…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.