Patent ID: 8392658
Filing Date: 2013-03-05
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A cache comprising: a tag memory configured to store a plurality of tags corresponding to cache blocks stored in the cache, wherein each tag comprises a tag portion of an address of the corresponding cache block, a replacement record, and an indication that identifies which of two or more replacement policies is applied to the corresponding cache block, and wherein the replacement record comprises data indicating a status of the corresponding cache block in the replacement policy that is applied to the data; and a control unit coupled to the tag memory, wherein the control unit is configured to maintain the replacement records and the indications based on the identified replacement policies and accesses to the cache, and wherein the control unit is configured to identify a plurality of eligible cache blocks for a given access, wherein the plurality of eligible cache blocks are eligible for replacement in response to a cache miss by the given access, and wherein the control unit is configured to maintain a plurality of different replacement policies concurrently among the plurality of eligible cache blocks responsive to the respective indications corresponding to the plurality of eligible cache blocks, wherein one of the two or more replacement policies is a least recently replaced (LRR) policy in which a selected cache block to be replaced from the plurality of eligible cache blocks is the cache block that has been stored in the cache longer than the other cache blocks in the plurality of eligible cache blocks.