Patent · US Expired

System and method for providing a pre-fetch memory controller

US6970978B1 · kind B1 · utility

19Cited by
10References
43Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateApr 3, 2002
Grant dateNov 29, 2005
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 12, 2023

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F2212/6022
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A system and method is disclosed for providing a pre-fetch memory controller in a computer system that comprises a plurality of master agents. The memory controller comprises a bus interface, a memory interface and a plurality of pre-fetch queues. In one embodiment each pre-fetch queue is assigned to a master agent. In an alternate embodiment the pre-fetch queues are dynamically assigned to master agents. The bus interface services memory read requests, memory write requests, and pre-fetch requests. Data may be pre-fetched from main memory and stored in the pre-fetch queues. This reduces the latency for memory read requests and improves the efficiency of the memory interface with the main memory.

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