Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for memory prefetching based on intra-page usage history

US6678795B1 · kind B1 · utility

59Cited by
13References
34Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 15, 2000
Grant dateJan 13, 2004
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 13, 2021

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F2212/6024
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

There is provided a method for fetching at least one of instructions and operand data from a second memory into a first memory of a computer system having at least one processor. The method includes the step of storing a plurality of entries in a table associated with the first memory. Each entry is associated with a memory page that includes a plurality of storage elements in the second memory, and includes information of prior access by the at least one processor to each of the plurality of storage elements. Upon a miss to the first memory from the at least one processor based upon a request, the table is searched for a given entry associated with a given page that includes a target of the request. If the given entry is found, then at least one prefetch request is generated to fetch at least one storage element included in the given page from the second memory to the first memory, based upon given information comprised in the given entry.

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