Hybrid Cache Line Sector Allocation for Memory Utilization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cache memory management techniques lead to reduced utilization due to loading only needed sectors of cache lines, resulting in unused sectors that cannot be reallocated, thereby limiting cache memory efficiency and increasing memory transfer bandwidth consumption.
Innovation Solution
Implement a method for cache line sharing, where multiple allocations can share a cache line by allocating unused sectors, and using a rotation function to eliminate overlap, allowing multiple allocations to share the same cache line in the cache memory.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If only needed sectors of cache lines are loaded, then memory transfer bandwidth consumption is reduced, but cache memory utilization is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The cache line is divided into multiple sectors, allowing selective loading of only the needed sectors rather than the entire cache line. This segmentation enables the system to load 1, 2, or 3 sectors as needed, reducing memory transfer bandwidth consumption while maintaining the ability to access required data efficiently.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple allocations are merged into a single shared cache line. Instead of allocating separate cache lines for each allocation request, the system combines multiple allocations that can share the same cache line resources, thereby improving cache memory utilization by reducing the number of unused sectors across the cache memory.
2Loss of energy
If less than full cache lines are loaded, then memory transfer bandwidth is conserved, but unused sectors cannot be reallocated
Solution Approach 1:
The cache line is designed to serve multiple allocations simultaneously, making it multi-functional. A single cache line can be shared by multiple allocations, each accessing different sectors within the same cache line. This universality allows the cache line to adapt to different allocation patterns and improves overall cache memory efficiency by enabling reallocation of sectors across different allocations.
3Productivity
If multiple allocations share a cache line, then cache memory utilization improves, but sector overlap must be eliminated
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by tracking and managing sector allocations before conflicts arise. The cache controller maintains information about which sectors are allocated to which allocations, allowing it to prevent overlap before it occurs and to coordinate sector usage across multiple allocations sharing the same cache line.
Data Source
AI summary
Various embodiments include a system for managing cache memory in a computing system. The system includes a sectored cache memory that provides a mechanism for sharing sectors in a cache line among multiple cache line allocations. Traditionally, different cache line allocations are assigned to different cache lines in the cache memory. Further, cache line allocations may not use all of the sectors of the cache line, leading to low utilization of the cache memory. With the present techniques, multiple cache lines share the same cache line, leading to improved cache memory utilization relative to prior techniques. Further, sectors of cache allocations can be assigned to reduce data bank conflicts when accessing cache memory. Reducing such data bank conflicts can result in improved memory access performance, even when cache lines are shared with multiple allocations.