Method and apparatus for performing atomic accesses in a data processing system
US5727172A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 1, 1995 |
| Grant date | Mar 10, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 1, 2015 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F13/36
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method and apparatus for performing atomic accesses in a data processing system (10). In one embodiment, a small number of control signals (e.g. 100-102; or 103-104; or 105-108 from FIG. 3 ) are used to provide information regarding the status of reservations between bus masters (e.g. 80), bus interfaces (e.g. 84, 86, and 92), and snoop logic (e.g. 82,88, and 90). Snoop logic (e.g. 40 in FIG. 2) is required if multiple bus masters (12 and 46) are used. The control signals allow atomic accesses to be performed in a multi-master data processing system (10), while minimizing the circuitry required to be built on-board each bus master integrated circuit processor (e.g. 152 in FIG. 3). The result is lower cost processors (152) which can operate in multi-processor systems, but which are optimized for use in single-processor systems.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.