초록 ▼

Systems and methods for providing dynamic memory pre-fetch. Embodiments include a hub device including an input command stream interface and an adaptive pre-fetch logical unit (APLU). The input command stream interface detects commands from a memory controller directed to one or more memory devices

Systems and methods for providing dynamic memory pre-fetch. Embodiments include a hub device including an input command stream interface and an adaptive pre-fetch logical unit (APLU). The input command stream interface detects commands from a memory controller directed to one or more memory devices that are connected to the hub device. The APLU independently analyzes the commands to determine access patterns to the memory devices. The APLU also dynamically selects between enabling a pre-fetch function and disabling the pre-fetch function for the memory devices based on the results of the analysis.

대표청구항 ▼

The invention claimed is: 1. A hub device comprising: an input command stream interface detecting commands from a memory controller directed to one or more memory devices that are connected to the hub device; and an adaptive pre-fetch logical unit (APLU) independently analyzing the commands to dete

The invention claimed is: 1. A hub device comprising: an input command stream interface detecting commands from a memory controller directed to one or more memory devices that are connected to the hub device; and an adaptive pre-fetch logical unit (APLU) independently analyzing the commands to determine access patterns to the memory devices and dynamically selecting between enabling a pre-fetch function and disabling the pre-fetch function for the memory devices based on results of the analysis, wherein the pre-fetch function dispatches pre-fetch read commands at a lower priority than read commands from the memory controller. 2. The hub device of claim 1 wherein the access patterns are read access patterns. 3. The hub device of claim 1 wherein the analyzing includes predicting expected addresses of future commands from the memory controller based on the access patterns, wherein the pre-fetch function is enabled when the accuracy of the predicting is equal to or above an enable pre-fetch threshold and the pre-fetch function is disabled when the accuracy of the predicting is equal to or below a disable pre-fetch threshold. 4. The hub device of claim 1 further comprising a pre-fetch buffer utilized by the pre-fetch function for storing pre-fetched data and addresses. 5. The hub device of claim 4 wherein data coherency is maintained in the pre-fetch buffer during write operations. 6. The hub device of claim 1 wherein the analyzing and selecting applied to one bank of the one or more memory devices is independent of the analyzing and selecting applied to an other bank of the one or more memory devices. 7. The hub device of claim 1 wherein the analyzing and selecting applies to all of the memory devices. 8. The hub device of claim 1 wherein the commands include pending commands located in a memory command buffer. 9. The hub device of claim 8 wherein the APLU further reorders the pending commands in the memory command buffer to alter future access patterns. 10. A hub device comprising: an input command stream interface receiving a first command stream from a memory controller and detecting commands directed to one or more memory devices that are connected to the hub device; and an adaptive pre-fetch logical unit (APLU) independently analyzing the commands to determine access patterns to the memory devices and dynamically selecting between enabling a pre-fetch function and disabling the pre-fetch function for the memory devices based on results of the analysis, wherein the pre-fetch function generates a second command stream including pre-fetch read commands that are processed by the hub device and the hub device assigns priorities to the commands from the first and second command streams. 11. The hub device of claim 10 wherein a command from the memory controller has an expected data return time and the expected data return time is delayed in response to an in-process pre-fetch command executing on the hub device. 12. The hub device of claim 10 wherein the pre-fetch read commands have a lower priority than the read commands from the memory controller. 13. The hub device of claim 10 wherein the access patterns are read access patterns. 14. The hub device of claim 10 wherein the analyzing includes predicting expected addresses of future commands from the memory controller based on the access patterns, wherein the pre-fetch function is enabled when the accuracy of the predicting is equal to or above an enable pre-fetch threshold and the pre-fetch function is disabled when the accuracy of the predicting is equal to or below a disable pre-fetch threshold. 15. The hub device of claim 10 wherein the analyzing and selecting applied to one bank of the one or more memory devices is independent of the analyzing and selecting applied to an other bank of the one or more memory devices. 16. A hub device comprising: an input command stream interface detecting commands from a memory controller directed to one or more memory devices that are connected to the hub device; an adaptive pre-fetch logical unit (APLU) independently analyzing the commands to determine access patterns to the memory devices and for dynamically selecting between enabling a pre-fetch function and disabling the pre-fetch function for the memory devices based on results of the analysis; and a master pre-fetch enable switch set in response to a source external to the hub device to indicate if the ALPLU is enabled or disabled, wherein the APLU does not perform the independent analyzing or dynamic selecting when it is disabled. 17. The hub device of claim 16 wherein circuits utilized exclusively by the APLU are in a low power state when the APLU is disabled. 18. The hub device of claim 16 wherein the analyzing includes predicting expected addresses of future commands from the memory controller based on the access patterns, wherein the pre-fetch function is enabled when the accuracy of the predicting is equal to or above an enable pre-fetch threshold and the pre-fetch function is disabled when the accuracy of the predicting is equal to or below a disable pre-fetch threshold. 19. The hub device of claim 16 further comprising a pre-fetch buffer utilized by the pre-fetch function for storing pre-fetched data and addresses, wherein data coherency is maintained in the pre-fetch buffer during write operations. 20. The hub device of claim 16 wherein the analyzing and selecting applied to one bank of the one or more memory devices is independent of the analyzing and selecting applied to an other bank of the one or more memory devices.