Patents by Inventor Stephen J. Powell

Stephen J. Powell 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).

  • Publication number: 20130151779
    Abstract: A mechanism is provided for weighted history allocation prediction. For each member in a plurality of members in a lower level cache, an associated reference counter is initialized to an initial value based on an operation type that caused data to be allocated to a member location of the member. For each access to the member in the lower level cache, the associated reference counter is incremented. Responsive to a new allocation of data to the lower level cache and responsive to the new allocation of data requiring the victimization of another member in the lower level cache, a member of the lower level cache is identified that has a lowest reference count value in its associated reference counter. The member with the lowest reference count value in its associated reference counter is then evicted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 9, 2011
    Publication date: June 13, 2013
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: David M. Daly, Benjiman L. Goodman, Stephen J. Powell, Aaron C. Sawdey, Jeffrey A. Stuecheli
  • Publication number: 20130138878
    Abstract: A method for performing refresh operations on a rank of memory devices is disclosed. After the completion of a memory operation, a determination is made whether or not a refresh backlog count value is less than a predetermined value and the rank of memory devices is being powered down. If the refresh backlog count value is less than the predetermined value and the rank of memory devices is being powered down, an Idle Count threshold value is set to a maximum value such that a refresh operation will be performed after a maximum delay time. If the refresh backlog count value is not less than the predetermined value or the rank of memory devices is not in a powered down state, the Idle Count threshold value is set based on the slope of an Idle Delay Function such that a refresh operation will be performed accordingly.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 28, 2011
    Publication date: May 30, 2013
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Mark A. Brittain, John Steven Dodson, Benjiman L. Goodman, Stephen J. Powell, Jeffrey A. Stuecheli
  • Publication number: 20130117513
    Abstract: Techniques for handling queuing of memory accesses prevent passing excessive requests that implicate a region of memory subject to a high latency memory operation, such as a memory refresh operation, memory scrubbing or an internal bus calibration event, to a re-order queue of a memory controller. The memory controller includes a queue for storing pending memory access requests, a re-order queue for receiving the requests, and a control logic implementing a queue controller that determines if there is a collision between a received request and an ongoing high-latency memory operation. If there is a collision, then transfer of the request to the re-order queue may be rejected outright, or a count of existing queued operations that collide with the high latency operation may be used to determine if queuing the new request will exceed a threshold number of such operations.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 7, 2011
    Publication date: May 9, 2013
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Mark A. Brittain, John Steven Dodson, Benjiman L. Goodman, Stephen J. Powell, Eric E. Retter, Jeffrey A. Stuecheli