Patent ID: 7260685

Claim:
A memory module, comprising: a plurality of memory devices; and a memory hub, comprising: a link interface receiving memory requests for access to memory cells in at least one of the memory devices; a memory device interface coupled to the memory devices, the memory device interface being operable to transfer memory requests to the memory devices for access to memory cells in at least one of the memory devices and to receive read data responsive to at least some of the memory requests; a history logic unit coupled to the link interface to receive memory requests from the link interface, the history logic being operable to predict addresses that are likely to be accessed in the memory devices based on the memory requests, the history logic unit generating prefetching suggestions indicative of the predicted addresses; a memory sequencer coupled to the link interface, the memory device interface and the history logic unit, the memory sequencer being operable to transfer memory requests to the memory device interface responsive to memory requests received from the link interface, the memory sequencer further being operable to generate and transfer prefetch requests to the memory device interface responsive to prefetching suggestions received from the history logic unit; a prefetch buffer coupled to the memory device interface for receiving and storing read data from memory cells being accessed responsive to the prefetch requests; and a data read control unit coupled to the memory device interface, the link interface and the prefetch buffer, the data read control circuit being operable to determine from a read memory request received from the link interface if the read data are stored in the prefetch buffer, the control unit further being responsive to the read memory request to transfer the read data from the prefetch buffer if the read data are stored in the prefetch buffer and to transfer the read data from the memory device interface if the read data are stored in the memory devices.