Patent · US Expired

Apparatus and method for data group coherency in a tightly coupled data processing system with plural execution and data cache units

US5148533A · kind A · utility

63Cited by
14References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJan 5, 1989
Grant dateSep 15, 1992
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 5, 2009

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F12/0831
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

In a data processing system having a plurality of tightly coupled data processing units connected by an asynchronous system bus, apparatus and an associated method are described for maintaining the coherency of data groups stored in instruction cache units and execution cache units. The apparatus includes a monitor unit as part of the bus interface unit, and a bus interface unit coupling each associated data processing unit to the system bus. The monitor unit receives signals, applied to the system bus, identifying data groups transferred between the memory unit and the data processing units, including those data groups originating from the bus interface unit of which the monitor unit is a component. The bus interface unit includes directories duplicating the contents of the instruction cache unit directory and the execution cache unit directory. The monitor unit, in response to signals applied to the system bus, identifies operations that can compromise the integrity of signals stored in the associated data processing unit. The monitor unit accesses the appropriate duplicate directory to determine if the address of a compromised data group validly exists in the duplicate directory…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.