Patent · US Active

Multiple critical word bypassing in a memory controller

US8458406B2 · kind B2 · utility

4Cited by
2References
19Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateNov 29, 2010
Grant dateJun 4, 2013
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 19, 2031

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F13/1673
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

In one embodiment, a memory controller may be configured to transmit two or more critical words (or beats) corresponding to two or more different read requests prior to returning the remaining beats of the read requests. Such an embodiment may reduce latency to the sources of the memory requests, which may be stalled awaiting the critical words. The remaining words may fill a cache block or other buffer, but may not be required by the sources as quickly as the critical words in order to support higher performance. In some embodiments, once a remaining beat of a block is transmitted, all of the remaining beats may be transmitted contiguously. In other embodiments, additional critical words may be forwarded between remaining beats of a block.

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