17958334. HARDWARE PROCESSOR HAVING MULTIPLE MEMORY PREFETCHERS AND MULTIPLE PREFETCH FILTERS simplified abstract (Intel Corporation)

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HARDWARE PROCESSOR HAVING MULTIPLE MEMORY PREFETCHERS AND MULTIPLE PREFETCH FILTERS

Organization Name

Intel Corporation

Inventor(s)

Seth Pugsley of Hillsboro OR (US)

Mark Dechene of Hillsboro OR (US)

Ryan Carlson of Hillsboro OR (US)

Manjunath Shevgoor of Beaverton OR (US)

HARDWARE PROCESSOR HAVING MULTIPLE MEMORY PREFETCHERS AND MULTIPLE PREFETCH FILTERS - A simplified explanation of the abstract

This abstract first appeared for US patent application 17958334 titled 'HARDWARE PROCESSOR HAVING MULTIPLE MEMORY PREFETCHERS AND MULTIPLE PREFETCH FILTERS

Simplified Explanation

The abstract describes techniques for prefetching by a hardware processor, including execution circuitry, cache memories, and prefetcher circuitry. The prefetcher circuitry prefetches data from system memory to cache memories, with first and second-level prefetchers and prefetch filters.

  • Hardware processor includes execution circuitry, cache memories, and prefetcher circuitry
  • Prefetcher circuitry prefetches data from system memory to cache memories
  • First-level prefetcher prefetches data to the first cache memory
  • Second-level prefetcher prefetches data to the second cache memory
  • Prefetch filters include one for the first-level prefetcher and another for maintaining a history of demand and prefetch accesses

Potential Applications

The technology described in the patent application could be applied in various computing devices, such as servers, desktop computers, laptops, and mobile devices, to improve data access speed and overall system performance.

Problems Solved

This technology helps to reduce data access latency by prefetching data from system memory to cache memories, allowing for faster retrieval of frequently accessed data and improving overall system efficiency.

Benefits

The benefits of this technology include faster data access speed, improved system performance, reduced latency, and enhanced user experience when interacting with computing devices.

Potential Commercial Applications

The technology could be commercially applied in the development of high-performance computing systems, data centers, cloud computing services, and other applications where fast data access and processing are essential for optimal performance.

Possible Prior Art

One possible prior art related to this technology is the use of prefetching techniques in computer processors to improve memory access speed and system performance. Researchers and developers have explored various prefetching algorithms and strategies to enhance data retrieval efficiency in computing systems.

Unanswered Questions

How does the prefetcher circuitry determine which data to prefetch and when to prefetch it?

The abstract does not provide specific details on the prefetching algorithms or mechanisms used by the prefetcher circuitry to determine which data to prefetch from system memory to cache memories.

What impact does prefetching have on overall system power consumption and energy efficiency?

The abstract does not address the potential impact of prefetching on system power consumption and energy efficiency, which are important considerations in designing energy-efficient computing systems.


Original Abstract Submitted

Techniques for prefetching by a hardware processor are described. In certain examples, a hardware processor includes execution circuitry, cache memories, and prefetcher circuitry. The execution circuitry is to execute instructions to access data at a memory address. The cache memories include a first cache memory at a first cache level and a second cache memory at a second cache level. The prefetcher circuitry is to prefetch the data from a system memory to at least one of the plurality of cache memories, and it includes a first-level prefetcher to prefetch the data to the first cache memory, a second-level prefetcher to prefetch the data to the second cache memory, and a plurality of prefetch filters. One of the prefetch filters is to filter exclusively for the first-level prefetcher. Another of the prefetch filters is to maintain a history of demand and prefetch accesses to pages in the system memory and to use the history to provide training information to the second-level prefetcher.