Abstract: A prefetch mechanism using prefetch attributes is disclosed. In one aspect, an explicit request for data stored in a memory is provided, and a prefetch attribute in a page table entry associated with the explicit request is examined to determine whether to provide one or more prefetch requests based on the prefetch attribute. Another aspect includes determining dynamic prefetch attributes for use in prefetching data, in which prefetch attributes are adjusted based on memory access requests that target next sequential blocks of memory relative to the most recent previous access in a page of memory.

Abstract: A method and system for improving the performance of a cache. The cache may include a tag entry that identifies the previously requested address by the processor whose data was not located in the cache. If the processor requests that address a second time, then there is a significant probability that the address will be accessed again. When the processor requests the address identified by the tag entry a second time, the cache is updated by inserting the data located at that address and evicting the data located in the least recently used entry. In this manner, data will not be evicted from the cache unless there is a significant probability that the data placed in the cache will likely be accessed again. Hence, data may not be evicted in the cache by the processor and replaced with data that will not be reused, such as in an interrupt routine.