Patents by Inventor Mark Landers

Mark Landers has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11941430
    Abstract: A converter module is described which handles memory requests issued by a cache (e.g. an on-chip cache), where these memory requests include memory addresses defined within a virtual memory space. The converter module receives these requests, issues each request with a transaction identifier and uses that identifier to track the status of the memory request. The converter module sends requests for address translation to a memory management unit and where there the translation is not available in the memory management unit receives further memory requests from the memory management unit. The memory requests are issued to a memory via a bus and the transaction identifier for a request is freed once the response has been received from the memory. When issuing memory requests onto the bus, memory requests received from the memory management unit may be prioritized over those received from the cache.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2024
    Assignee: Imagination Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Mark Landers, Martin John Robinson
  • Patent number: 11914514
    Abstract: A coherency manager for receiving snoop requests addressed in a physical address space, the snoop requests relating to a cache memory addressable using a virtual address space, the cache memory having a plurality of coherent cachelines, the coherency manager comprising: a reverse translation module configured to maintain a mapping from physical addresses to virtual addresses for each coherent cacheline held in the cache memory; and a snoop processor configured to: receive a snoop request relating to a physical address; in response to the received snoop request, determine whether the physical address is mapped to a virtual address in the reverse translation module; and process the snoop request in dependence on that determination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 27, 2024
    Assignee: Imagination Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Martin John Robinson, Mark Landers
  • Publication number: 20230393983
    Abstract: A memory interface for interfacing between a memory bus and a cache memory. A plurality of bus interfaces are configured to transfer data between the memory bus and the cache memory, and a plurality of snoop processors are configured to receive snoop requests from the memory bus. Each snoop processor is associated with a respective bus interface and each snoop processor is configured, on receiving a snoop request, to determine whether the snoop request relates to the bus interface associated with that snoop processor and to process the snoop request in dependence on that determination.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 21, 2023
    Publication date: December 7, 2023
    Inventors: Martin John Robinson, Mark Landers
  • Patent number: 11734177
    Abstract: A memory interface for interfacing between a memory bus and a cache memory, comprising: a plurality of bus interfaces configured to transfer data between the memory bus and the cache memory; and a plurality of snoop processors configured to receive snoop requests from the memory bus; wherein each snoop processor is associated with a respective bus interface and each snoop processor is configured, on receiving a snoop request, to determine whether the snoop request relates to the bus interface associated with that snoop processor and to process the snoop request in dependence on that determination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: Imagination Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Martin John Robinson, Mark Landers
  • Publication number: 20230119485
    Abstract: A converter module is described which handles memory requests issued by a cache (e.g. an on-chip cache), where these memory requests include memory addresses defined within a virtual memory space. The converter module receives these requests, issues each request with a transaction identifier and uses that identifier to track the status of the memory request. The converter module sends requests for address translation to a memory management unit and where there the translation is not available in the memory management unit receives further memory requests from the memory management unit. The memory requests are issued to a memory via a bus and the transaction identifier for a request is freed once the response has been received from the memory. When issuing memory requests onto the bus, memory requests received from the memory management unit may be prioritized over those received from the cache.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2022
    Publication date: April 20, 2023
    Inventors: Mark Landers, Martin John Robinson
  • Patent number: 11537427
    Abstract: A converter module is described which handles memory requests issued by a cache (e.g. an on-chip cache), where these memory requests include memory addresses defined within a virtual memory space. The converter module receives these requests, issues each request with a transaction identifier and uses that identifier to track the status of the memory request. The converter module sends requests for address translation to a memory management unit and where there the translation is not available in the memory management unit receives further memory requests from the memory management unit. The memory requests are issued to a memory via a bus and the transaction identifier for a request is freed once the response has been received from the memory. When issuing memory requests onto the bus, memory requests received from the memory management unit may be prioritized over those received from the cache.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: Imagination Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Mark Landers, Martin John Robinson
  • Patent number: 11372777
    Abstract: A memory interface for interfacing between a memory bus addressable using a physical address space and a cache memory addressable using a virtual address space, the memory interface comprising: a memory management unit configured to maintain a mapping from the virtual address space to the physical address space; and a coherency manager comprising a reverse translation module configured to maintain a mapping from the physical address space to the virtual address space; wherein the memory interface is configured to: receive a memory read request from the cache memory, the memory read request being addressed in the virtual address space; translate the memory read request, at the memory management unit, to a translated memory read request addressed in the physical address space for transmission on the memory bus; receive a snoop request from the memory bus, the snoop request being addressed in the physical address space; and translate the snoop request, at the coherency manager, to a translated snoop request addr
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: Imagination Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Martin John Robinson, Mark Landers
  • Publication number: 20220162706
    Abstract: The disclosure provides methods correlating intra-patient genomic heterogeneity of single CTCs with phenotypic heterogeneity in each of a population of prostate cancer (PCa) patients.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 15, 2021
    Publication date: May 26, 2022
    Inventors: Ryan Dittamore, Mark Landers
  • Publication number: 20210390052
    Abstract: A memory interface for interfacing between a memory bus and a cache memory, comprising: a plurality of bus interfaces configured to transfer data between the memory bus and the cache memory; and a plurality of snoop processors configured to receive snoop requests from the memory bus; wherein each snoop processor is associated with a respective bus interface and each snoop processor is configured, on receiving a snoop request, to determine whether the snoop request relates to the bus interface associated with that snoop processor and to process the snoop request in dependence on that determination.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 26, 2021
    Publication date: December 16, 2021
    Inventors: Martin John Robinson, Mark Landers
  • Patent number: 11132299
    Abstract: A memory interface for interfacing between a memory bus and a cache memory, comprising: a plurality of bus interfaces configured to transfer data between the memory bus and the cache memory; and a plurality of snoop processors configured to receive snoop requests from the memory bus; wherein each snoop processor is associated with a respective bus interface and each snoop processor is configured, on receiving a snoop request, to determine whether the snoop request relates to the bus interface associated with that snoop processor and to process the snoop request in dependence on that determination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Assignee: Imagination Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Martin John Robinson, Mark Landers
  • Publication number: 20210294744
    Abstract: A coherency manager for receiving snoop requests addressed in a physical address space, the snoop requests relating to a cache memory addressable using a virtual address space, the cache memory having a plurality of coherent cachelines, the coherency manager comprising: a reverse translation module configured to maintain a mapping from physical addresses to virtual addresses for each coherent cacheline held in the cache memory; and a snoop processor configured to: receive a snoop request relating to a physical address; in response to the received snoop request, determine whether the physical address is mapped to a virtual address in the reverse translation module; and process the snoop request in dependence on that determination.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 26, 2021
    Publication date: September 23, 2021
    Inventors: Martin John Robinson, Mark Landers
  • Patent number: 11030103
    Abstract: A coherency manager for receiving snoop requests addressed in a physical address space, the snoop requests relating to a cache memory addressable using a virtual address space, the cache memory having a plurality of coherent cachelines, the coherency manager comprising: a reverse translation module configured to maintain a mapping from physical addresses to virtual addresses for each coherent cacheline held in the cache memory; and a snoop processor configured to: receive a snoop request relating to a physical address; in response to the received snoop request, determine whether the physical address is mapped to a virtual address in the reverse translation module; and process the snoop request in dependence on that determination.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2021
    Assignee: Imagination Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Martin John Robinson, Mark Landers
  • Publication number: 20210157596
    Abstract: An on-chip cache is described which receives memory requests and in the event of a cache miss, the cache generates memory requests to a lower level in the memory hierarchy (e.g. to a lower level cache or an external memory). Data returned to the on-chip cache in response to the generated memory requests may be received out-of-order. An instruction scheduler in the on-chip cache stores pending received memory requests and effects the re-ordering by selecting a sequence of pending memory requests for execution such that pending requests relating to an identical cache line are executed in age order and pending requests relating to different cache lines are executed in an order dependent upon when data relating to the different cache lines is returned. The memory requests which are received may be received from another, lower level on-chip cache or from registers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 26, 2021
    Publication date: May 27, 2021
    Inventors: Mark Landers, Martin John Robinson
  • Publication number: 20210149822
    Abstract: A memory interface for interfacing between a memory bus addressable using a physical address space and a cache memory addressable using a virtual address space, the memory interface comprising: a memory management unit configured to maintain a mapping from the virtual address space to the physical address space; and a coherency manager comprising a reverse translation module configured to maintain a mapping from the physical address space to the virtual address space; wherein the memory interface is configured to: receive a memory read request from the cache memory, the memory read request being addressed in the virtual address space; translate the memory read request, at the memory management unit, to a translated memory read request addressed in the physical address space for transmission on the memory bus; receive a snoop request from the memory bus, the snoop request being addressed in the physical address space; and translate the snoop request, at the coherency manager, to a translated snoop request addr
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 28, 2021
    Publication date: May 20, 2021
    Inventors: Martin John Robinson, Mark Landers
  • Publication number: 20210132984
    Abstract: A converter module is described which handles memory requests issued by a cache (e.g. an on-chip cache), where these memory requests include memory addresses defined within a virtual memory space. The converter module receives these requests, issues each request with a transaction identifier and uses that identifier to track the status of the memory request. The converter module sends requests for address translation to a memory management unit and where there the translation is not available in the memory management unit receives further memory requests from the memory management unit. The memory requests are issued to a memory via a bus and the transaction identifier for a request is freed once the response has been received from the memory. When issuing memory requests onto the bus, memory requests received from the memory management unit may be prioritized over those received from the cache.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 12, 2021
    Publication date: May 6, 2021
    Inventors: Mark Landers, Martin John Robinson
  • Patent number: 10936509
    Abstract: A memory interface for interfacing between a memory bus addressable using a physical address space and a cache memory addressable using a virtual address space, the memory interface comprising: a memory management unit configured to maintain a mapping from the virtual address space to the physical address space; and a coherency manager comprising a reverse translation module configured to maintain a mapping from the physical address space to the virtual address space; wherein the memory interface is configured to: receive a memory read request from the cache memory, the memory read request being addressed in the virtual address space; translate the memory read request, at the memory management unit, to a translated memory read request addressed in the physical address space for transmission on the memory bus; receive a snoop request from the memory bus, the snoop request being addressed in the physical address space; and translate the snoop request, at the coherency manager, to a translated snoop request addr
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2021
    Assignee: Imagination Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Martin John Robinson, Mark Landers
  • Patent number: 10929138
    Abstract: An on-chip cache is described which receives memory requests and in the event of a cache miss, the cache generates memory requests to a lower level in the memory hierarchy (e.g. to a lower level cache or an external memory). Data returned to the on-chip cache in response to the generated memory requests may be received out-of-order. An instruction scheduler in the on-chip cache stores pending received memory requests and effects the re-ordering by selecting a sequence of pending memory requests for execution such that pending requests relating to an identical cache line are executed in age order and pending requests relating to different cache lines are executed in an order dependent upon when data relating to the different cache lines is returned. The memory requests which are received may be received from another, lower level on-chip cache or from registers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: Imagination Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Mark Landers, Martin John Robinson
  • Patent number: 10908945
    Abstract: A converter module is described which handles memory requests issued by a cache (e.g. an on-chip cache), where these memory requests include memory addresses defined within a virtual memory space. The converter module receives these requests, issues each request with a transaction identifier and uses that identifier to track the status of the memory request. The converter module sends requests for address translation to a memory management unit and where there the translation is not available in the memory management unit receives further memory requests from the memory management unit. The memory requests are issued to a memory via a bus and the transaction identifier for a request is freed once the response has been received from the memory. When issuing memory requests onto the bus, memory requests received from the memory management unit may be prioritized over those received from the cache.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: Imagination Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Mark Landers, Martin John Robinson
  • Publication number: 20190266101
    Abstract: A memory interface for interfacing between a memory bus addressable using a physical address space and a cache memory addressable using a virtual address space, the memory interface comprising: a memory management unit configured to maintain a mapping from the virtual address space to the physical address space; and a coherency manager comprising a reverse translation module configured to maintain a mapping from the physical address space to the virtual address space; wherein the memory interface is configured to: receive a memory read request from the cache memory, the memory read request being addressed in the virtual address space; translate the memory read request, at the memory management unit, to a translated memory read request addressed in the physical address space for transmission on the memory bus; receive a snoop request from the memory bus, the snoop request being addressed in the physical address space; and translate the snoop request, at the coherency manager, to a translated snoop request addr
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 15, 2018
    Publication date: August 29, 2019
    Inventors: Martin John Robinson, Mark Landers
  • Publication number: 20190266092
    Abstract: A coherency manager for receiving snoop requests addressed in a physical address space, the snoop requests relating to a cache memory addressable using a virtual address space, the cache memory having a plurality of coherent cachelines, the coherency manager comprising: a reverse translation module configured to maintain a mapping from physical addresses to virtual addresses for each coherent cacheline held in the cache memory; and a snoop processor configured to: receive a snoop request relating to a physical address; in response to the received snoop request, determine whether the physical address is mapped to a virtual address in the reverse translation module; and process the snoop request in dependence on that determination.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 15, 2018
    Publication date: August 29, 2019
    Inventors: Martin John Robinson, Mark Landers