Patent · US Expired

Transaction activation processor for controlling memory transaction execution in a packet switched cache coherent multiprocessor system

US5655100A · kind A · utility

275Cited by
17References
10Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 31, 1995
Grant dateAug 5, 1997
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 31, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F12/0822
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A multiprocessor computer system has a multiplicity of sub-systems and a main memory coupled to a system controller. Some of the sub-systems are data processors, each having a respective cache memory that stores multiple blocks of data and a respective set of master cache tags (Etags), including one Etag for each data block stored by the cache memory. Each data processor includes an interface for sending memory transaction requests to the system controller and for receiving cache transaction requests from the system controller corresponding to memory transaction requests by other ones of the data processors. The system controller includes transaction activation logic for activating each said memory transaction request when it meets predefined activation criteria, and for blocking each said memory transaction request until the predefined activation criteria are met. An active transaction status table stores status data representing memory transaction requests that have been activated, including an address value for each activated transaction. The transaction activation logic includes comparator logic for comparing each memory transaction request with the active transaction status da…

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