Method and apparatus for collapsing writebacks to a memory for resource efficiency
US6438660B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 9, 1997 |
| Grant date | Aug 20, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 9, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F2212/1024
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Method and apparatus are disclosed which increase resource efficiency by collapsing writebacks to a memory. In general the method and apparatus receive an address of a memory request and compare that address to addresses of writebacks stored in a memory controller in order to determine whether the memory request maps to the same memory line of the memory as a stored writeback. If (1) the memory request generates a writeback, and (2) the memory request maps to the same line in the main memory as one of the stored writebacks, then the writeback generated from the memory request may be collapsed with one of the stored writebacks, thus reducing the number of writes to the main memory.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.