Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for invalidating a cache line without data return in a multi-node architecture

US6772298B2 · kind B2 · utility

15Cited by
143References
19Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 20, 2000
Grant dateAug 3, 2004
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 19, 2022

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F12/0817
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method of invalidating a cache line in a system having a plurality of nodes that include a processor and a cache memory. A request to invalidate a cache line that is caching a particular memory block is sent from a first node. The request is a request to invalidate a cache line in another node without returning to the first node the data stored in a cache line to be invalidated. In an embodiment, the data in the cache line to be invalidated is not returned to the first node even if the cache line is in the modified state. In a further embodiment, new data is written to a cache line in the first node that is caching the particular memory block without writing old data that was stored in that cache line back to a memory.

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