Stephen J Meier

US Patent:

20230092898, Mar 23, 2023

Filed:

Dec 10, 2021

Appl. No.:

17/643765

Inventors:

- Cupertino CA, US
Andrew J. Beaumont-Smith - Cambridge MA, US
Eric J. Furbish - Austin TX, US
John D. Pape - Cedar Park TX, US
Stephen G. Meier - Los Altos CA, US
Tyler J. Huberty - Sunnyvale CA, US

International Classification:

G06F 9/38
G06F 9/34
G06F 12/10

Abstract:

A prefetcher for a coprocessor is disclosed. An apparatus includes a processor and a coprocessor that are configured to execute processor and coprocessor instructions, respectively. The processor and coprocessor instructions appear together in code sequences fetched by the processor, with the coprocessor instructions being provided to the coprocessor by the processor. The apparatus further includes a coprocessor prefetcher configured to monitor a code sequence fetched by the processor and, in response to identifying a presence of coprocessor instructions in the code sequence, capture the memory addresses, generated by the processor, of operand data for coprocessor instructions. The coprocessor is further configured to issue, for a cache memory accessible to the coprocessor, prefetches for data associated with the memory addresses prior to execution of the coprocessor instructions by the coprocessor.