Information processing system and including a supplemental memory and method of operation
First Claim
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1. An information processing system, comprising:
- a processor;
a bus for communicating information;
a system memory coupled to the bus for storing at least a subset of the information;
a prefetch memory;
a cache memory, integral to said processor; and
circuitry coupled to the bus and to the prefetch and cache memories for;
storing first information from the system memory into the prefetch memory in response to a prefetch instruction requesting only the first information;
storing second information into the cache memory in response to a memory instruction requesting the second information, the second information being provided directly from the prefetch memory, independent of said bus, when the first information includes the second information, otherwise the second information being from the system memory without being added to the prefetch memory; and
maintaining coherency of the first information in the prefetch memory in response to address information from the bus.
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Abstract
An information processing system and method of operation are provided. In response to a first instruction, a supplemental memory stores first information from a system memory. In response to a second instruction, a cache memory stores second information from the supplemental memory if the first information includes the second information and from the system memory otherwise.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1. An information processing system, comprising:
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a processor; a bus for communicating information; a system memory coupled to the bus for storing at least a subset of the information; a prefetch memory; a cache memory, integral to said processor; and circuitry coupled to the bus and to the prefetch and cache memories for; storing first information from the system memory into the prefetch memory in response to a prefetch instruction requesting only the first information; storing second information into the cache memory in response to a memory instruction requesting the second information, the second information being provided directly from the prefetch memory, independent of said bus, when the first information includes the second information, otherwise the second information being from the system memory without being added to the prefetch memory; and maintaining coherency of the first information in the prefetch memory in response to address information from the bus. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25)
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10. An information processing system, comprising:
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a processor; a bus for communicating information; a system memory couple to said bus for storing at least a subset of said information; a supplemental memory; a cache memory, integral to said processor; and circuitry coupled to said bus and to said supplemental and cache memories for; storing first information from said system memory into said supplemental memory in response to a first instruction requesting only said first information; storing second information into said cache memory in response to a second instruction requesting said second information, said second information being provided directly from said supplemental memory, independent of said bus, when said first information includes said second information, otherwise said second information being from said system memory without being added to said supplemental memory; and maintaining coherency of said first information in said supplemental memory in response to address information from said bus. - View Dependent Claims (23, 26, 27, 28, 37)
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29. A method of operating an information processing system, having a processor included therein, comprising the steps of:
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communicating information through a bus; storing at least a subset of said information in a system memory; in response to a first instruction requesting only first information, storing said first information into a supplemental memory from said system memory; in response to a second instruction requesting second information, directly storing, independent of said bus, said second information from said supplemental memory to a cache memory, integral to said processor, when said first information includes said second information, otherwise said second information being from said system memory without being added to said supplemental memory; and maintaining coherency of said first information in said supplemental memory in response to address information from said bus. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 40)
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Specification