Patent ID: 6775747
Filing Date: 2004-08-10
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A system comprising:a non-prefetch fault register to store information associated with a faulting micro-operation relating to a non-prefetch memory access operation; a prefetch fault register to store information associated with a faulting micro-operation relating to a prefetch memory access operation, wherein the prefetch fault register is separate from the non-prefetch fault register; and a first unit to determine whether a currently pending micro-operation (micro-op) relates to a non-prefetch operation or a prefetch operation, wherein if the currently pending micro-op is a prefetch memory access, the first unit determines if the currently pending micro-op has previously faulted based on information contained in the prefetch fault register, wherein said first unit drops said currently pending micro-op from a pipeline if (1) said currently pending micro-op relates to a prefetch memory access and (2) said currently pending micro-op has previously faulted.