Method and apparatus for interleaving memory across computer memory banks

Abstract

The present invention advantageously optimizes the flexibility built into some interleavers by novelly configuring an interleaver to improve the throughput of access to computer memory by maximizing the number of banks used for interleaving the memory. That is, the present embodiment improves the process of spreading memory references across multiple memory banks to increase throughput of the memory system by novelly configuring the control registers of an interleaver in a computer system. The present invention configures an interleaver so that it operates across “N” memory banks where “N” is not required to be a power of two. That is, the current embodiment of the present invention may approximate the number of memory banks available for interleaving to the a number that is equal to or closer to the number of memory banks available for interleaving, than previous solutions that were constrained to a power of two. Further, given such an interleaver, the present invention may use fewer than “N” entries and improves the approximation of the number of banks available for interleaving computer memory over prior art approximations. The present embodiment improves the efficiency of interleavers by configuring an interleaver by jointly configuring the entries in the configuration of the interleaver.