Technique for prefetching with a pointer prefetcher

A processor comprising:

• a pointer prefetcher configured to execute computer-executable instructions to cause the pointer prefetcher to:
• obtain a triggering access comprising a line trigger virtual address denoting a beginning of a payload of a cache line, the payload including a virtual address of a consumer workload that consumes data produced by a producer workload;
• determine a stride associated with the producer workload based, at least in part, on a virtual address of the producer workload;
• determine a sub-cacheline trigger virtual address of the triggering access based, at least in part, on the line trigger virtual address of the triggering access, the virtual address of the producer workload, and the stride associated with the producer workload;
• and
• launch, starting at the sub-cacheline trigger virtual address of the triggering access, prefetches for data offsets within the cache line and pointed to by the stride associated with the producer workload, wherein to launch the prefetches the pointer prefetcher is configured to:
• determine a marker associated with the triggering access based, at least in part, on a virtual address of the producer workload and the virtual address of the consumer workload;
• determine the marker satisfies a threshold;
• and
• in response to determining the marker satisfies the threshold, launch the prefetches for the data offsets.

An apparatus comprising:

• means for obtaining a triggering access comprising a line trigger virtual address denoting a beginning of a payload of a cache line, the payload including a virtual address of a consumer workload that consumes data produced by a producer workload;
• means for determining a stride associated with the producer workload based, at least in part, on a virtual address of the producer workload;
• means for determining a sub-cacheline trigger virtual address of the triggering access based, at least in part, on the line trigger virtual address of the triggering access, the virtual address of the producer workload, and the stride associated with the producer workload;
• and
• means for launching, starting at the sub-cacheline trigger virtual address of the triggering access, prefetches for data offsets within the cache line and pointed to by the stride associated with the producer workload, wherein the means for launching the prefetches comprises:
• means determining a marker associated with the triggering access based, at least in part, on a virtual address of the producer workload and the virtual address of the consumer workload;
• means determining the marker satisfies a threshold;
• and
• in response to determining the marker satisfies the threshold, means launching the prefetches for the data offsets.