Intel Corporation

International Business Machines Corporation

Bryan D Boatright

Rajesh Bhikhubhai Patel

Larry Edward Thatcher

Derek E Williams

Kurt Alan Feiste

Carl C Scafidi

Lawrence Joseph Merkel

Ben J Eapen

C Glenn Shirley

In accordance with various embodiments of the present invention, a cache-equipped semi-conductor device is provided with enhanced error detection logic to detect a first location-independent error within an area of the cache memory and prevent further use of the area if the error is determined to be the second consecutive error associated with a common area.

Methods and apparatuses for reducing infant mortality in semiconductor devices utilizing static random access memory (SRAM)

The present invention relates to the use of multiple store buffer forwarding in a microprocessor system with a restrictive memory model. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the system and method allow load operations that are completely covered by two or more store operations to receive data via store buffer forwarding in such a manner as to retain the side effects of the restrictive memory model thereby increasing processor performance without violating the restrictive memory model. In accordance with an embodiment the present invention, a method for multiple store buffer forwarding in a system with a restrictive memory model includes executing multiple store instructions, executing a load instruction, determining that a memory region addressed by the load instruction matches a cacheline address in a memory, determining that data stored by the multiple store instructions completely covers the memory region addressed by the load instruction, and transmitting a store forward is OK signal.

System and method for multiple store buffer forwarding in a system with a restrictive memory model

The present invention relates to locked memory instructions, and more specifically to a system and method for the high performance execution of locked memory instructions in a system with distributed memory and a restrictive memory model. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a method for executing locked-memory instructions includes decoding a locked-memory instruction, obtaining exclusive ownership of a cacheline to be used by a load-lock operation, setting a bit to indicate the load-lock operation's ownership of the cacheline, and activating a snoop checking process. The method also includes modifying a load data value and storing the modified load data value. The method further includes determining that the cacheline is still exclusively owned, storing the load data value, determining that the cacheline is unsnooped, merging the modified load data value with the load data value, and releasing the locked-memory instruction to be retired.

System and method for high performance execution of locked memory instructions in a system with distributed memory and a restrictive memory model

A data processing system and method having a number of cache controllers coupled to a bus. A cache controller uses a buffer operably coupled to the bus for loading information from the bus. A status bit associated with a buffer indicates the buffer status. The cache controller has logic circuitry operably coupled to the bus and the buffer. The logic circuitry responds to a certain cache coherency operation by loading the buffer and waiting during a predetermined interval for a possible retry signal before further processing the operation.

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Austin, TX, United States of America

Bryan D Boatright