A method of managing a distributed cache structure having separate cache banks, by detecting that a given cache line has been repeatedly accessed by two or more processors which share the cache, and replicating that cache line in at least two separate cache banks. The cache line is optimally replicated in a cache bank having the lowest latency with respect to the given accessing processor. A currently accessed line in a different cache bank can be exchanged with a cache line in the cache bank with the lowest latency, and another line in the cache bank with lowest latency is moved to the different cache bank prior to the currently accessed line being moved to the cache bank with the lowest latency. Further replication of the cache line can be disabled when two or more processors alternately write to the cache line.

A method of managing power states of memory modules while performing memory access operations is discussed. Memory modules are in a power saving state until an access operation involving the module is to be performed. The module is placed in an operational mode, then the access operation is performed, then the module is returned to the power saving state.

A decision tree, representing a knowledge base, is segmented into at least two decision tree portions. The lower portion includes the tree entry point and is stored in a memory element with a faster access time than the upper portion, which includes the terminating element of the decision tree. Thus during the process of reading the tree entries for comparing them with the search object, the search entries in the lower portion of the tree can be read faster than the search entries in the upper portion, resulting in a faster traversal through the entire decision tree.