The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 29, 1999
Filed:
Mar. 13, 1996
Robert Yung, Fremont, CA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A cache structure for a microprocessor which provides set-prediction information for a separate, second-level cache, and a method for improving cache accessing, are provided. In the event of a first-level cache miss, the second-level set-prediction information is used to select the set in an N-way off-chip set-associative cache. This allows a set-associative structure to be used in a second-level cache (on or off chip) without requiring a large number of traces and/or pins. Since set-prediction is used, the subsequent access time for a comparison to determine that the correct set was predicted is not in the critical timing path unless there is a mis-prediction or a miss in the second-level cache. Also, a cache memory can be partitioned into M sets, with M being chosen so that the set size is less than or equal to the page size, allowing a cache access before a TLB translation is done, further speeding the access.