Method and apparatus for controlling line eviction in a cache
AssigneeSun Microsystems, Inc.
InventorJan Civlin
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for controlling cache line eviction. The system operates by first receiving a sequence of instructions at a processor during execution of a program, wherein the sequence of instructions causes a cache line to be loaded into the cache. Next, the system examines the sequence of instructions to determine if an associated cache line includes only scratch data that will not be reused. If so, upon loading the cache line into the cache, the system marks the cache line as containing only scratch data, which allows the cache line to be evicted next from the cache.
Claims24
A method for controlling line eviction in a cache, comprising:
- receiving a sequence of instructions at a processor during execution of a computer program, wherein the sequence of instructions causes a cache line to be loaded into the cache;
- examining the sequence of instructions to determine if an associated cache line includes only scratch data that will not be reused;
- and
- if so, marking the associated cache line as containing only scratch data, whereby marking the cache line allows immediate eviction of the cache line from the cache.
An apparatus for controlling line eviction in a cache, comprising:
- a receiving mechanism configured to receive a sequence of instructions at a processor during execution of a computer program, wherein the sequence of instructions causes a cache line to be loaded into the cache;
- an examining mechanism configured to examine the sequence of instructions to determine if an associated cache line includes only scratch data that will not be reused;
- and
- a marking mechanism configured to mark the associated cache line as containing only scratch data if the associated cache line includes only scratch data that will not be reused, whereby marking the cache line allows immediate eviction of the cache line from the cache.
A means for controlling line eviction in a cache, comprising:
- a means for receiving a sequence of instructions at a processor during execution of a computer program, wherein the sequence of instructions causes a cache line to be loaded into the cache;
- a means for examining the sequence of instructions to determine if an associated cache line includes only scratch data that will not be reused;
- and
- a means for marking the associated cache line as containing only scratch data if the associated cache line includes only scratch data that will not be reused, whereby marking the cache line allows immediate eviction of the cache line from the cache.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.