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US 7,127,586 B2Granted
Prefetching hints
AssigneeMIPS Technologies, Inc.
InventorTodd C. Mowry
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A processor capable of executing prefetching instructions containing hint fields is provided. The hint fields contain a first portion which enables the selection of a destination indicator for refill operations, and a second portion which identifies a destination.
Claims12
A method comprising:
- issuing an instruction, wherein said instruction includes a hint field, a base field and an offset field;
- forming an address to access data in a cache, wherein said address is formed by using information contained in said offset and base fields;
- and
- prefetching said data, when unavailable in said cache, in accordance with hint information contained in said hint field, wherein said hint information indicates an expected use of said data and a destination for said data, and said hint information is independent of said address.
1 more element
A method comprising:
- issuing an instruction, wherein said instruction includes a hint field, a base field and an index field;
- forming an address to access data in a cache, wherein said address is formed by using information contained in said index and base fields;
- and
- prefetching said data, when unavailable in said cache, in accordance with hint information contained in said hint field, wherein said hint information indicates an expected use of said data and a destination for said data, and said hint information is independent of said address.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.