Method and apparatus for performing store-to-load forwarding from an interlocking store using an enhanced load/store unit in a processor
US8683179B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 30, 2010 |
| Grant date | Mar 25, 2014 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 30, 2032 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F9/3826
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method and a processor load/store unit (LSU) are described for performing store-to-load forwarding (STLF) from an interlocking store. STLF is performed when a starting address of the store and the load do not match, or when a data size of the store is smaller than a data size of the load. The LSU detects a load that interlocks with a store, and determines whether all or only a portion of data bytes needed by the load can be provided by the interlocking store. If it is determined that only a portion of the data bytes needed by the load can be provided by the interlocking store, then that portion of the data bytes is provided by a store data buffer (SDB) and the remaining portion of the data bytes needed by the load is provided by a data cache (DC). Otherwise, the SDB provides all of the data bytes.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.