Patent ID: 8549231

Claim:
A method for prefetching data over an interface, the method comprising: receiving a first data prefetch request for first data of a first data size stored at a first physical address corresponding to a first virtual address, wherein the first data prefetch request comprises second data specifying the first virtual address and third data specifying the first data size, wherein the first virtual address and the first data size define a first virtual address range; converting the first data prefetch request into a first data retrieval request packet, said converting comprising translating the first virtual address specified by the second data into the first physical address; issuing the first data retrieval request packet at the interface, wherein the first data retrieval request packet includes data specifying the first physical address; receiving the first data at the interface; and storing at least a portion of the received first data in a cache, comprising setting each of one or more cache tags to correspond to the first physical address, wherein the one or more cache tags are associated with the at least a portion of the received first data.