Patent Abstract:
A prefetch controller implements an upgrade when a real read access request hits the same memory bank and memory address as a previous prefetch request. In response per-memory bank logic promotes the priority of the prefetch request to that of a read request. If the prefetch request is still waiting to win arbitration, this upgrade in priority increases the likelihood of gaining access generally reducing the latency. If the prefetch request had already gained access through arbitration, the upgrade has no effect. This thus generally reduces the latency in completion of a high priority real request when a low priority speculative prefetch was made to the same address.

Full Description:
CLAIM OF PRIORITY 
     This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e)(1) to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/022,008 filed Jan. 18, 2008. 
    
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The technical field of this invention is power controlling shared memories in a multiprocessor system. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention is applicable to a shared memory controller in a multiprocessor system. The multiprocessor system is divided into per-CPU and per-memory bank logic blocks. Each per-CPU logic contains prefetch buffers with one entry corresponding to each bank of memory that can be accessed. The prefetch buffers are filled speculatively based on the last access made by the CPU. On an access from the master matching the address of an entry in the prefetch buffer known as a hit, the prefetched data is supplied to the CPU. On an access from the master having an address within a memory bank of prefetched data but not the address of the prefetched data, the contents of that entry are invalidated and a prefetch request issued from the per-CPU logic to the per-bank logic. Prefetch requests in the per-bank logic compete with real read accesses, write accesses and prefetch requests from other per-CPU logic. A prefetch request has the lowest priority. Thus a prefetch request may take a long time to complete. While the prefetch request is waiting in the per-bank logic for service, the master of the per-CPU logic that initiated the prefetch request may issue a real request to the same bank. 
     If the real request is to the same address as the prefetch request, there are 2 possible options. The real request can be ignored. In this alternative, the data returned by the prefetch request is sent to the requesting master. Since the prefetch request has the lowest priority, the prefetch access may take longer than if the new real request had been sent to the per-bank logic. The second alternative terminates the prefetch request and sends the new real request to the per-memory bank logic. This does not take advantage of the case where the prefetch request is complete and the data in available. The new real access request will incur additional delay going through arbitration again. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention operates when a real read access request hits the same memory bank and memory address as a previous prefetch request. When this occurs the per-CPU logic sends a signal to the per-memory bank logic to upgrade the priority of the prefetch request. In response to this signal the per-memory bank logic promotes the priority of the prefetch request to that of a read request. If the prefetch request is still waiting to win arbitration, this upgrade in priority increases the likelihood of gaining access generally reducing the latency. This avoids latency due to the low priority of a prefetch request. If the prefetch request had already gained access through arbitration, the upgrade has no effect. 
     This thus generally reduces the latency in completion of a high priority real request when a low priority speculative prefetch was made to the same address. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       These and other aspects of this invention are illustrated in the drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a multiprocessor system integrated circuit using shared memory; 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of the local shared memory controller corresponding to one of the processors of the multiprocessor system; 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram of the central shared memory controller of the multiprocessor system; and 
         FIG. 4  is a block diagram of the power controller portion of the this invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     This invention is useful in a multiprocessor integrated circuit such as illustrated in  FIG. 1 . Example multiprocessor integrated circuit  100  includes: six central processing units  111 ,  112 ,  113 ,  114 ,  115  and  116 ; a shared memory controller  120  including six local shared memory controllers  121 ,  122 ,  123 ,  124 ,  125  and  126  connected to corresponding central processing units and central shared memory controller  129 ; and shared memory  130  including separately energizable memory banks  131 ,  132 ,  133  and  134 . Multiprocessor integrated circuit  100  includes plural central processing units sharing a common memory. Note the number of central processing units and memory banks shown in  FIG. 1  is exemplary only. This architecture creates problems solved by this invention. 
     Each of the central processing units  111  to  116  is a stand-alone programmable data processor. In the preferred embodiment these have the same instruction set architecture (ISA). This is known as homogenous multiprocessing. However, this invention is also applicable to heterogeneous multiprocessing in which the central processing units employ two or more ISAs. Each central processor preferably includes a processing core for data processing operations, a data register file for temporary storage of operand data and results data and instruction and data cache. Each central processing unit operates under its own program. Each central processing unit uses shared memory controller  120  to access programs and data in shared memory  130 . 
     Shared memory controller (SMC)  120  interfaces central processing units  111 ,  112 ,  113 ,  114 ,  115  and  116  to shared memory  130 . In the preferred embodiment shared memory  130  is at the same level in the memory hierarchy as second level (L2) cache in central processing units  111 ,  112 ,  113 ,  114 ,  115  and  116 . SMC  120  includes: Local SMC (LSMC) and Central SMC (CSMC). This partition is done to keep the GEM specific logic in the LSMC and the memory bank specific logic in the CSMC. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates an exemplary local shared memory controller  121 . LSMC  121  includes: request manager  201 ; read controller  202 ; prefetch access generation logic (PAGL)  203 ; request pending table  204 ; prefetch buffers  205 ; LSMC buffer  206 ; write controller  207 ; power down controller  208 ; and read datapath  209 . 
     Request manager  201  interfaces with the corresponding CPU interface. Request manager  201  decodes the requests from CPU  111  and controls the different blocks with in LSMC  121 . Request manager  201  handles the lookup of the prefetch buffers and figures out if a CPU  111  access hits or misses the prefetch buffers. Request manager  201  generates a system ready signal taking individual components of ready from read controller  202  and write controller  209 . Request manager  210  controls read datapath  209  to CPU  111 . Request manager  121  submits the read requests and prefetch requests to CSMC  129 . 
     Read controller  202  manages all the read requests that go to memory banks  131 ,  132 ,  133  and  134 . Read controller  202  contains per bank state machines that submit read requests to CSMC  129 . Read controller  202  contains logic to stall CPU  111  using the cready signal. 
     Prefetch access generation logic  203  generates the prefetch requests to CSMC  129  to fill prefetch buffers  205 . PAGL  203  calculates the addresses to be prefetched based on the type of access by CPU  111 . Request manager  201  controls PAGL  203  when killing or aborting a prefetch request. 
     Request pending table  204  maintains the status of access requests and prefetch requests. Request pending table  204  splits incoming acknowledge signals from CSMC  129  for requests sent from LSMC  121  into real access and prefetch acknowledgments. Real access acknowledgments are routed to CPU  111  and read controller  202 . Prefetch acknowledgments are routed to prefetch buffers  205 . Request pending table  204  includes a number of entries direct mapping the number of logical memory banks  131 ,  132 ,  133  and  134 . 
     Prefetch buffers  205  include data buffers with each logical memory bank  131 ,  132 ,  133  and  134 . Thus the preferred embodiment includes four data buffers. Prefetch buffers  205  store prefetched data and address tags. Whenever a stored address tag matches the address of an access on the CPU interface and the prefetch data is valid, this data is directly forwarded from prefetch buffers  205  to CPU  111  without fetching from memory. 
     LSMC buffer  206  is a per-CPU command register which buffers the address and control signals on every access from the CPU. In the case of a write access, LSMC buffer  206  also buffers the write data. 
     Write controller  207  handles write requests from CPU  111 . Writes use a token-based protocol. CSMC  129  has 4 per-bank write buffers. Writes from all CPUs arbitrate for a write token to write into the per-bank write buffers. Write controller  207  handles the token request interface with CSMC  129 . 
     Power down controller  208  communicates with its counterpart in CSMC  129 . Whenever the CSMC  129  power down controller requests a sleep or wakeup, power down controller  208  ensures that LSMC  121  is in a clean state before allowing the CSMC  129  power down controller to proceed. 
     Read datapath  209  receives control signals from request manager  201  corresponding to the type of access. Read datapath  209  multiplexes data from either prefetch buffer  205  or the memory data from CSMC  129  which is registered and forwarded to CPU  111 . 
     Central shared memory controller (CSMC)  129  includes: request manager  301 ; arbiter  302 ; write buffer manager  303 ; datapath  304 ; register interface  305 ; and power down controller  306 . 
     Request manager  301  receives requests from all CPUs  111  to  116 . Request manager  301  submits these requests to a corresponding per-bank arbiter. Request manager  310  generates the memory control signals based on the signals from the CPU which won the arbitration. Request manager  301  contains the atomic access monitors which manage atomic operations initiated by a CPU. 
     Arbiter  302  is a least recently used (LRU) based arbiter. Arbiter  302  arbitrates among requests from all six CPUs for each memory bank  131 ,  132 ,  133  and  134 . Arbitration uses the following priority. Write requests have the highest priority. Only one write request will be pending to any particular bank at a time. Real read requests have the next lower priority. A real read request is selected only if there are no pending write requests from any CPU. Prefetch requests have the lowest priority. Prefetch requests are selected only if there are no write requests or real read requests from any CPU. 
     Among CPUs requesting access at the same priority level, arbiter  302  implements a standard LRU scheme. Arbiter  302  has a 6 bit queue with one entry per CPU in each queue. The head of the queue is always the LRU. If the requester is the LRU, then it automatically wins the arbitration. If the requester is not the LRU, then the next in the queue is checked and so on. The winner of a current arbitration is pushed to the end of the queue becoming the most recently used. All other queue entries are pushed up accordingly. 
     Write buffer manager  303  contains per-bank write buffers. Write buffer manager  303  interfaces with the token requests from a write controller  207  of one of the LSMCs  121  to  126 . Token arbitration uses a LRU scheme. Each per-bank write buffer of write buffer manager includes six finite state machines, one for each CPU. These finite state machines control generation of token requests to arbiter  302 . Write buffer manager  303  registers and forwards the token grant from arbiter  302  to the corresponding CPU. Upon receiving the token grant the CPU has control of the per-bank write buffer and proceeds with the write. 
     Datapath  304  multiplexes between data from different memory pages and forwards data to the LSMC of the CPU which won the arbitration. 
     Register interface  305  supports a VBUSP interface through which software can program several registers. These registers control the operation of shared memory controller  120 . Signals are exported from the register interface to different blocks in LSMCs  121 ,  122 ,  123 ,  124 ,  125  and  126  and CSMC  129 . 
     Power down controller  306  interfaces with the programmable registers through which software can request a sleep mode or wakeup of memory banks  131 ,  132 ,  133  and  134 . Power down controller  306  interfaces with the power down controller  208  of each LSMC  121 ,  122 ,  123 ,  124 ,  125  and  126 , and memory wrappers to put the memory banks  131 ,  132 ,  1332  and  134  into sleep mode and wakeup. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates in block diagram form the circuits of an implementation of this invention. In  FIG. 4  circuits to the left of the dashed line are in a corresponding LSMC. Circuits to the right of the dashed line are in CSMC  129 . Pending prefetch address register  401  stores the access address of a pending prefetch. Comparator  402  compares this pending prefetch address with the address of a CPU read access request. Comparator  402  generates a match signal if the addresses are identical. This match signal signals request manager  301  of CSMC  129  to upgrade the prefetch request for the corresponding memory bank to a read request. As noted above read requests have higher priority in arbitration than prefetch requests. This upgrade thus typically decreases the time to win arbitration and be granted access. 
     This is advantageous over the two techniques of the prior art. Ignoring real request results in delay because the prefetch has a lower priority than the read request. Terminating the prefetch request and issuing a new real request to the per-memory bank logic does not take advantage of any progress already made by the prefetch request. Upgrading the prefetch request as in this invention reduces the delay for arbitration grant and takes advantage of any progress of the prefetch.

Technology Classification (CPC): 8