Descriptor-based hardware prefetcher

Abstract

A processor prefetches data based on access-pattern descriptors that delineate the expected storage patterns for data stored at a memory. An executing program, such as a machine learning model, generates the access-pattern descriptors to indicate the expected storage patterns. A hardware prefetcher of the processor employs the access-pattern descriptors to generate prefetch requests for the data, and cache of the processor executes the prefetch requests to transfer data to the cache for subsequent retrieval and use by the executing program. By employing the hardware prefetcher to generate the prefetch requests based on the access-pattern descriptors, the processing system reduces memory latency associated with more complex data structures, thereby improving overall processing efficiency

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