TECHNIQUE FOR PREFETCHING DATA BASED ON A STRIDE PATTERN

A processor system ( 100 ) includes a central processing unit ( 102 ) and a prefetch engine ( 110 ). The prefetch engine ( 110 ) is coupled to the central processing unit ( 102 ). The prefetch engine ( 110 ) is configured to detect, when data associated with the central processing unit ( 102 ) is read from a memory ( 114 ), a stride pattern in an address stream based upon whether sums of a current stride and a previous stride are equal for a number of consecutive reads. The prefetch engine ( 110 ) is also configured to prefetch, for the central processing unit ( 102 ), data from the memory ( 114 ) based on the detected stride pattern.