Patent ID: 6173369
Filing Date: 2001-01-09
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A computer system for executing program instructions, comprising:a memory system to store information, wherein said information comprises the program instructions and data;a memory control unit (MCU) to control storage and retrieval of said information in said memory system;an instruction fetch unit (IFU) to fetch program instructions;an instruction execution unit (IEU) for executing said program instructions fetched by said IFU; anda cache control unit (CCU), said cache control unit comprising a cache memory, a request queue comprising a plurality of slots for storing information, and a cache control processor (CCP),said CCU receiving memory retrieval requests from said IFU and said IEU, each of said memory retrieval requests comprising an address identifier identifying a storage location in said memory system and a CPU-ID tag identifying a source of said memory retrieval request,said CCP storing into a slot of said request queue each memory retrieval request that requests a subblock that is not located in said cache memory and is not sought by a pending memory retrieval request,said CCP sending to said MCU cache control requests corresponding to respective memory retrieval requests stored in said request queue, each of said cache control requests comprising an address identifier identifying a storage location in said memory system and a queue pointer identifying a slot of said request queue,said MCU retrieving from said memory system, regardless of the order in which said cache control requests were sent by said CCP, blocks of information corresponding to said cache control requests, wherein each of said blocks of information has a corresponding queue pointer;said MCU sending to said CCP, in the order retrieved from said memory system, said retrieved blocks of information and said corresponding queue pointers,said CCP using said received corresponding queue pointers to associate each received block of information with a CPU-ID tag of one of said memory retrieval requests, andsaid CCP fulfilling said memory retrieval requests regardless of said sequence in which said memory retrieval requests were received by said CCU.