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:
Mar. 08, 2011
Filed:
Dec. 10, 2007
Eric Jason Fluhr, Round Rock, TX (US);
Bradly George Frey, Austin, TX (US);
John Barry Griswell, Jr., Austin, TX (US);
Hung Qui Le, Austin, TX (US);
Cathy May, Millwood, NY (US);
Francis Patrick O'connell, Austin, TX (US);
Edward John Silha, Austin, TX (US);
Albert Thomas Williams, Austin, TX (US);
Eric Jason Fluhr, Round Rock, TX (US);
Bradly George Frey, Austin, TX (US);
John Barry Griswell, Jr., Austin, TX (US);
Hung Qui Le, Austin, TX (US);
Cathy May, Millwood, NY (US);
Francis Patrick O'Connell, Austin, TX (US);
Edward John Silha, Austin, TX (US);
Albert Thomas Williams, Austin, TX (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A method of prefetching data in a microprocessor includes identifying a data stream associated with a process and determining a depth associated with the data stream based upon prefetch factors including the number of currently concurrent data streams and data consumption rates associated with the concurrent data streams. Data prefetch requests are allocated with the data stream to reflect the determined depth of the data stream. Allocating data prefetch requests may include allocating prefetch requests for a number of cache lines away from the cache line currently being referenced, wherein the number of cache lines is equal to the determined depth. The method may include, responsive to determining the depth associated with a data stream, configuring prefetch hardware to reflect the determined depth for the identified data stream. Prefetch control bits in an instruction executed by the processor control the prefetch hardware configuration.