Patent · US Active

Management of caches

US9251081B2 · kind B2 · utility

5Cited by
0References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 1, 2013
Grant dateFeb 2, 2016
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 27, 2034

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY02D10/00
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A system and method for efficiently powering down banks in a cache memory for reducing power consumption. A computing system includes a cache array and a corresponding cache controller. The cache array includes multiple banks, each comprising multiple cache sets. In response to a request to power down a first bank of the multiple banks in the cache array, the cache controller selects a cache line of a given type in the first bank and determines whether a respective locality of reference for the selected cache line exceeds a threshold. If the threshold is exceeded, then the selected cache line is migrated to a second bank in the cache array. If the threshold is not exceeded, then the selected cache line is written back to lower-level memory.

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