Patent ID: 6446143
Filing Date: 2002-09-03
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A method for controlling memory access requests, comprising the steps ofqueuing a prefetch request for performing a prefetch operation that prefetches a first set of instructions from a memory; adding, in a request queue, a first entry identifying the prefetch operation in response to the prefetch request; subsequently queuing a fetch request for performing a fetch operation that fetches a second set of instructions from the memory to satisfy a cache miss; adding, in the request queue, a second entry identifying the fetch operation in response to the fetch request; and canceling the queued prefetch request when the fetch request is received before the prefetch operation initiates in response to the queued prefetch request, and performing the prefetch operation to completion when the fetch request is received after the prefetch operation initiates in response to the queued prefetch request.