DATA CACHE REGION PREFETCHER

A data cache region prefetcher creates a region when a data cache miss occurs. Each region includes a predetermined range of data lines proximate to each data cache miss and is tagged with an associated instruction pointer register (RIP). The data cache region prefetcher compares subsequent memory requests against the predetermined range of data lines for each of the existing regions. For each match, the data cache region prefetcher sets an access bit and attempts to identify a pseudo-random access pattern based on the set access bits. The data cache region prefetcher increments or decrements appropriate counters to track how often the pseudo-random access pattern occurs. If the pseudo-random access pattern occurs frequently, then the next time a memory request is processed with the same RIP and pattern, the data cache region prefetcher prefetches the data lines in accordance with the pseudo-random access pattern for that RIP.