Cache injection on bus based multiprocessors

Abstract

Software-controlled cache prefetching and data forwarding are widely used techniques for tolerating memory latency in shared memory multiprocessors. However, some previous studies show that cache prefetching is not so effective on bus-based multiprocessors, while the effectiveness of data forwarding has not been explored in this environment, yet. In this paper, a novel technique called cache injection is proposed. Cache injection, tuned to the properties of bus-based architectures, combines advantages of both cache prefetching and data forwarding. Some preliminary experiments show that the proposed solution can significantly help in reducing the overall miss ratio and bus traffic in applications where write-shared data prevails.