Mechanisms to bound the presence of cache blocks with specific properties in caches

摘要

A system and method for efficiently limiting storage space for data with particular properties in a cache memory. A computing system includes a cache and one or more sources for memory requests. In response to receiving a request to allocate data of a first type, a cache controller allocates the data in the cache responsive to determining a limit of an amount of data of the first type permitted in the cache is not reached. The controller maintains an amount and location information of the data of the first type stored in the cache. Additionally, the cache may be partitioned with each partition designated for storing data of a given type. Allocation of data of the first type is dependent at least upon the availability of a first partition and a limit of an amount of data of the first type in a second partition.

主权项

1. A computing system comprising:
a cache comprising a first partition configured to store data of a first type and a second partition configured to store data of a second type; and a cache controller coupled to the cache, wherein in response to a request to allocate data of the first type, the cache controller is configured to:
allocate the data of the first type in the first partition, if the first partition is available;allocate the data of the first type in the second partition, if (i) the first partition is unavailable and (ii) a limit on an amount of data of the first type permitted in the second partition is not reached.