System and method for granular in-field cache repair
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorsBahaa Fahim, Min Huang, Zhiguo Wang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A cache controller id disclosed, The cache controller includes circuitry to receive a request to access data in a target location of a last level cache of a processor on a processor package, identify an in-field failure in the target location of the last level cache, perform, in response to the identification of the in-field failure, an in-field repair, including circuitry to write in-field repair information to a non-volatile memory on the processor package and external to the processor, the non-volatile memory including circuitry to store in-field repair information. Systems and methods are also disclosed.
Claims17
A packaged processor for granular in-field cache repair, comprising:
- a processor, including:
- a cache controller;
- a last level cache coupled to the cache controller;
- a repair memory coupled to the cache controller;
- a non-volatile memory external to the processor and coupled to the cache controller, the non-volatile memory including circuitry to store in-field repair information;
- and
- wherein the cache controller includes circuitry to:
- identify an in-field failure of at least one bit in the last level cache;
- perform, in response to identification of the in-field failure of the at least one bit in the last level cache, an in-field repair of the last level cache, wherein to perform the in-field repair, the cache controller further includes circuitry to:
- determine that no other in-field repair is pending in the last level cache;
- determine that a repair resource is available;
- write in-field repair data to the repair memory, the in-field repair data including:
- a physical address associated with a target location in the last level cache including the at least one bit;
- and
- a cache way associated with the target location in the last level cache.
A cache controller, comprising circuitry to:
- receive a request to access data in a target location of a last level cache of a processor on a processor package;
- identify an in-field failure in the target location of the last level cache;
- perform, in response to the identification of the in-field failure, an in-field repair of the last level cache, including circuitry to:
- determine that no other in-field repair is pending in the last level cache;
- determine that a repair resource is available;
- write in-field repair data to a repair memory, the in-field repair data including:
- a physical address associated with the target location in the last level cache;
- and
- a cache way associated with the target location in the last level cache;
- write in-field repair information to a non-volatile memory on the processor package and external to the processor, the non-volatile memory including circuitry to store in-field repair information.
A method for granular in-field cache repair, comprising, in a processor:
- receiving, at a cache controller, a read request directed to a target area in a last level cache;
- reading data from the target area;
- determining that the data includes unrepaired errors to be repaired;
- determining, in response to determining that the data includes unrepaired errors to be repaired, to perform an in-field repair;
- and
- performing, in response to determining to perform the in-field repair, the in-field repair of the target area, wherein performing the in-field repair comprises:
- determining that no other in-field repair is pending in the last level cache;
- determining that a repair resource is available;
- writing in-field repair data to a repair memory, the in-field repair data including:
- a physical address associated with a target location in the last level cache;
- and
- a cache way associated with the target location in the last level cache.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.