Patent ID: 7840761
Filing Date: 2010-11-23
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method of supporting execution of a prefetch thread within a processor, the method comprising: executing instructions with a main computing thread within a processor, including (1) retrieving data for the main computing thread, and (2) storing the data retrieved for the main computing thread within a data cache internal to the processor; pre-executing the instructions with a prefetch thread within the processor, the prefetch thread executing the instructions ahead of the main computing thread, wherein pre-executing the instructions includes (1) retrieving data for the prefetch thread, and (2) storing the data retrieved for the prefetch thread in a prefetch buffer internal to the processor; based on a memory address associated with data required by one of the instructions being executed with the main computing thread, evicting the data from the prefetch buffer; determining whether the prefetch buffer is full; stalling the prefetch thread based on a determination that the prefetch buffer is full; transferring data from the prefetch buffer to the data cache for use by the main computing thread after stalling the prefetch thread; and reactivating the prefetch thread.