Patent ID: 7526613

Claim:
Data processing system, comprising: at least one processor ( 12 ) for processing streaming data; at least one cache memory ( 200 ) having a plurality of cache blocks ( 210 ), wherein one of said cache memories ( 200 ) is associated to each of said processors ( 12 ), and at least one cache controller ( 300 ) for prefetching data into said cache memory ( 200 ), wherein one of said cache controllers ( 300 ) is associated to each of said cache memories ( 200 ); said cache controller ( 300 ) comprising: determining means ( 350 ) for identifying at least one location in said cache memory ( 200 ) containing first data, which is predicted to be dismissible without penalty, said determining means being configured to determine if the last data word of first data words in a cache block ( 210 ) has been accessed by a reading operation from the at least one processor so that said first data words can be dismissed from the cache block; and prefetch means ( 320 ) for issuing a prefetch operation replacing said first data at said location with second data which fit said location, said second data being prefetched from a memory ( 32 ), said prefetch means being configured to prefetch second data words from said memory, which replace said first data words in said cache block with said second data words, said second data words being of the same size as the first data words.