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:
Oct. 03, 2000
Filed:
Sep. 05, 1997
Philip Bourekas, San Jose, CA (US);
Tuan Anh Luong, San Jose, CA (US);
Michael Miller, Saratoga, CA (US);
Integrated Device Technology, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
An apparatus and method for prefetching data into a cache memory system is provided. A prefetch instruction includes a hint type that allows a programmer to designate whether, during a data retrieval operation, a hit in the cache is to be ignored or accepted. If accepted, the prefetch operation completes. If ignored, the prefetch operation retrieves data from the main memory, even though the cache believes it contains valid data at the requested memory location. Use of this invention in a multiple bus master processing environment provides the advantages of using a cache memory, i.e., burst reads and a relatively large storage space as compared to a register file, without incurring disadvantages associated with maintaining data coherency between the cache and main memory systems.