Pre-Grant Publication Number: 20080104325
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Prior Art Detail
Summary / Description
| Summary / Description | A method and apparatus are described for protecting cache lines allocated to a cache by a run-ahead prefetcher from premature eviction, preventing thrashing. The invention also prevents premature eviction of cache lines still in use, such as lines allocated by the run-ahead prefetcher but not yet referenced by normal execution. A protection bit indicates whether its associated cache line has protected status in the cache or whether it may be evicted. |
Basic Information
| Type of Prior Art | Issued Patents - US |
| Country | United States of America |
| Patent/Application # | 6957304 |
| Kind Code | United States (US) - United STATES Patent - A |
| Patentee Name | Intel Corporation |
| Relevant Pages, Columns, or Lines | |
| URL | |
| Filing Date | December 20, 2000 |
| Additional Information | |
Notes / To Do
| Notes | Prior art entered on behalf of John-David Wellman. |
Excerpt
Excerpt A novel method and apparatus are described for protecting cache lines from premature eviction after the cache lines were allocated by a run-ahead prefetcher. In the following detailed description of the invention reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which is shown, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. In the drawings, like numerals describe substantially similar components throughout the several views. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. Other embodiments may be utilized and structural, logical, and electrical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
The apparatus and method of example embodiments of the invention prevents premature eviction of cache lines allocated to a cache by a run-ahead prefetcher but not yet referenced by normal execution. This improves the run-ahead prefetcher performance by ensuring that it will not evict blocks that will be needed later in normal execution, thus reducing the number of misses seen in normal execution. |
Relevance
Claims
1
Relevance
Disclosed is a prefetcher, 'monitor agent', as an independent thread in a run-ahead mode that independently seeks out prefetching opportunities.
Disclosed is a prefetcher, 'monitor agent', as an independent thread in a run-ahead mode that independently seeks out prefetching opportunities.
Claim Chart
All
13
Relevance
Disclosed is a prefetcher, 'monitor agent', as an independent thread in a run-ahead mode that independently seeks out prefetching opportunities.
Disclosed is a prefetcher, 'monitor agent', as an independent thread in a run-ahead mode that independently seeks out prefetching opportunities.
Claim Chart
All
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