Patent ID: 8291157

Claim:
A computer program product for concurrent refresh in a cache memory, the computer program product comprising a tangible storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method comprising: calculating a refresh time interval based upon system operating conditions at a centralized refresh controller, the centralized refresh controller being common to all cache memory banks of the cache memory; transmitting a starting time of the refresh time interval to a bank controller, the bank controller being local to, and associated with, only one cache memory bank of the cache memory; sampling a continuous refresh status indicative of a number of refreshes necessary to maintain data within the cache memory bank associated with the bank controller, the continuous refresh status being a combination of refresh request signals updated based on a concurrent refresh status of embedded dynamic random access memory (EDRAM) macros in operative communication with the bank controller; requesting a gap in a processing pipeline of the cache memory to facilitate the number of refreshes necessary; receiving a refresh grant in response to the requesting; and transmitting an encoded refresh command to the bank controller, the encoded refresh command indicating a number of refresh operations granted to the cache memory bank associated with the bank controller.