US 10,241,919 B2 · Data caching method and computer system

Abstract

A data caching method and a computer system are provided. In the method, when a miss of an access request occurs and a cache needs to determine a to-be-replaced cache line, not only a historical access frequency of the cache line but also a type of a memory corresponding to the cache line needs to be considered. A cache line corresponding to a DRAM type may be preferably replaced, which reduces a caching amount in the cache for data stored in a DRAM and relatively increase a caching amount for data stored in an NVM. For an access request for accessing the data stored in the NVM, corresponding data can be found in the cache whenever possible, thereby reducing cases of reading data from the NVM. Thus, a delay in reading data from the NVM is reduced, and access efficiency is effectively improved.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A data caching method performed by a cache processor, comprising:

receiving a data access request for accessing a first data from a processor in a computer system, wherein the computer system comprises a hybrid memory comprising a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and a nonvolatile memory (NVM);
determining, according to a historical access frequency of a cache line in the cache and a type of a memory corresponding to the cache line, that a plurality of cache lines in the cache meet a first preset condition and the first data is not cached in the cache, wherein the cache lines that meet the first preset condition correspond to the DRAM and each has a historical access frequency that is lower than a preset frequency;
selecting a first cache line from the cache lines that meet the first preset condition;
reading the first data from the hybrid memory according to an access address in the access request;
and
replacing the first cache line with a second cache line, the second cache line comprising the first data.

3 more elements

A data caching method performed by a cache processor, comprising:

receiving a data access request for accessing a first data from a processor in a computer system including a hybrid memory, the data access request comprising an access address, and the hybrid memory comprising a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and a nonvolatile memory (NVM);
determining, according to a historical access frequency of a cache line in the cache and a type of a memory corresponding to the cache line, that a plurality of cache lines that meet a first preset condition are not in the cache and the first data is not cached in the cache, the cache lines that meet the first preset condition corresponding to the DRAM and each having a historical access frequency that is lower than a preset frequency;
determining a plurality of cache lines that meet a second preset condition are in the cache, the cache lines that meet the second preset condition comprising a plurality of unmodified cache lines corresponding to the NVM and each having a historical access frequency that is lower than the preset frequency;
selecting a first cache line from the cache lines that meet the second preset condition;
reading the first data from the hybrid memory according to the access address;
and
replacing the first cache line with a second cache line, the second cache line comprising the first data.

4 more elements

A computer system, comprising:

a processor,
a hybrid memory comprising a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and a nonvolatile memory (NVM);
a cache comprising a cache processor coupled to the processor in the computer system and the hybrid memory, the cache processor configured to:
receive a data access request for accessing a first data from the processor, the data access request comprising an access address;
determine, according to a historical access frequency of a cache line in the cache and a type of a memory corresponding to the cache line, whether cache lines in the cache meet a first preset condition when the first data is not cached in the cache, the cache lines that meet the first preset condition corresponding to the DRAM and each having a historical access frequency that is lower than a preset frequency and;
select a first cache line from the cache lines that meet the first preset condition when the cache lines that meet the first preset condition are in the cache;
read the first data from the hybrid memory according to the access address;
and
replace the first cache line with a second cache line, the second cache line comprising the first data.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Data caching method and computer system

Life of this patent

Data caching method and computer system

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims17