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Abstract

A voter provided in combination with a plurality of prefetch predictors provides improved prefetch performance. In one embodiment, the voter determines which of the prefetch predictors is making more accurate predictions, and uses predictions of the more effective prefetch predictor to prefetch data into a buffer for use in satisfying cache misses. A voting prefetch engine advantageously improves cache performance, and therefore processor performance, by reducing cache misses more than cache misses would be reduced by operation an individual prefetch predictor. Stride predictor-type and stream predictor-type prefetch predictors may be provided in combination with a prefetch buffer and voter to provide improved data cache performance in a high-performance processor.

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First Claim