Delayed replacement of TLB entries

摘要

A cache entry replacement unit can delay replacement of more valuable entries by replacing less valuable entries. When a miss occurs, the cache entry replacement unit can determine a cache entry for replacement (“a replacement entry”) based on a generic replacement technique. If the replacement entry is an entry that should be protected from replacement (e.g., a large page entry), the cache entry replacement unit can determine a second replacement entry. The cache entry replacement unit can “skip” the first replacement entry by replacing the second replacement entry with a new entry, if the second replacement entry is an entry that should not be protected (e.g., a small page entry). The first replacement entry can be skipped a predefined number of times before the first replacement entry is replaced with a new entry.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
identifying, in response to a translation lookaside buffer miss, a first replacement entry from a plurality of entries in a translation lookaside buffer; determining that the first replacement entry in the translation lookaside buffer is not to be replaced because the first replacement entry corresponds to a large page size; identifying a second replacement entry from the plurality of entries in the translation lookaside buffer; determining whether the second replacement entry in the translation lookaside buffer corresponds to a small page size; and replacing the second replacement entry in the translation lookaside buffer with a new entry in response to determining that the second replacement entry corresponds to the small page size.