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. 05, 2018
Filed:
Sep. 19, 2014
Applicant:
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Inventors:
Assignee:
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 12/08 (2016.01); G06F 12/0815 (2016.01); G06F 12/0864 (2016.01); G06F 12/0891 (2016.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 12/0815 (2013.01); G06F 12/0864 (2013.01); G06F 12/0891 (2013.01); Y02B 60/1225 (2013.01);
Abstract
A processing system having a multilevel cache hierarchy employs techniques for repurposing dead cache blocks so as to use otherwise wasted space in a cache hierarchy employing a write-back scheme. For a cache line containing invalid data with a valid tag, the valid tag is maintained for cache coherence purposes or otherwise, resulting in a valid tag for a dead cache block. A cache controller repurposes the dead cache block by storing any of a variety of new data at the dead cache block, while storing the new tag in a tag entry of a dead block tag way with an identifier indicating the location of the new data.