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:
May. 24, 2016
Filed:
Dec. 29, 2011
Ilhyun Kim, Beaverton, OR (US);
Chen Koren, Folsom, CA (US);
Alexandre J. Farcy, Hillsboro, OR (US);
Robert L. Hinton, Hillsboro, OR (US);
Choon Wei Khor, Sungai Dua, MY;
Lihu Rappoport, Haifa, IL;
Ilhyun Kim, Beaverton, OR (US);
Chen Koren, Folsom, CA (US);
Alexandre J. Farcy, Hillsboro, OR (US);
Robert L. Hinton, Hillsboro, OR (US);
Choon Wei Khor, Sungai Dua, MY;
Lihu Rappoport, Haifa, IL;
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
This disclosure includes tracking of in-use states of cache lines to improve throughput of pipelines and thus increase performance of processors. Access data for a number of sets of instructions stored in an instruction cache may be tracked using an in-use array in a first array until the data for one or more of those sets reach a threshold condition. A second array may then be used as the in-use array to track the sets of instructions after a micro-operation is inserted into the pipeline. When the micro-operation retires from the pipeline, the first array may be cleared. The process may repeat after the second array reaches the threshold condition. During the tracking, an in-use state for an instruction line may be detected by inspecting a corresponding bit in each of the arrays. Additional arrays may also be used to track the in-use state.