Storage buffers with reference counters to improve utilization

Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention provide circuits, methods, and apparatus that improve utilization of storage buffers by overwriting data in them as soon as the data is no longer needed. An exemplary embodiment employs a counter to add each time a particular unit of data is needed b...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser:	MORETON HENRY PACKARD, ACOCELLA DOMINIC, BOWEN ANDREW D, GIMBY ROBERT W, KONG THOMAS H
Format:	Patent
Sprache:	eng
Schlagworte:	CALCULATING CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION ANDCOMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION ANDCOMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THIR OWNENERGY USE COMPUTING COUNTING ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS PHYSICS TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINSTCLIMATE CHANGE
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Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:	Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention provide circuits, methods, and apparatus that improve utilization of storage buffers by overwriting data in them as soon as the data is no longer needed. An exemplary embodiment employs a counter to add each time a particular unit of data is needed by a circuit. The counter also subtracts each time the data is actually used by the circuit. When the counter reaches zero, upstream circuitry is checked to see if a command allowing the particular data to be overwritten has been issued. If it has, the command is not waited for, rather the data may be overwritten immediately. Embodiments of the present invention may also make use of one level of indirection to mask physical storage buffer locations from upstream circuitry. In this way, utilization can be improved.