Associative cache and method for replacing data entries having an IO state
US6636944B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 24, 1997 |
| Grant date | Oct 21, 2003 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 24, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F12/127
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An associative cache and method for replacing data entries in the associative cache by marking input-output (IO) device entries with an IO state. The IO state of a data entry may be indicated by a status or state tag. When valid data entries in a cache must be replaced to make way for new data, entries marked with an IO state are replaced first. This order of replacement improves the cache hit rate by non-IO agents such as data processors by preserving their data entries in the cache. If no valid data entries in the associative cache are marked with an IO state, the method reverts to conventional replacement algorithms such as random or least-recently-used (LRU) to determine which data will be replaced.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.