The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 07, 1998
Filed:
Jun. 17, 1996
Applicant:
Inventor:
Albert Stephen Hilditch, Wokingham, GB;
Assignee:
International Computers Limited, Putney, GB;
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
711133 ; 711117 ; 711118 ; 711128 ; 711134 ; 711135 ; 711136 ; 711144 ; 711154 ; 711158 ; 711159 ; 711160 ;
Abstract
An n-way set-associative cache (where n is an integer greater than 1), includes a replacement mechanism for selecting a cache line for replacement. Each cache line has an associated priority tag indicating a user-defined priority for that cache line The replacement mechanism comprises an apparatus for selecting a cache line with the lowest user-defined priority in a current set of cache lines, and apparatus (e.g. based on recency of usage) for choosing between cache lines of equal priority if there is more than one cache line with said lowest user-defined priority in the current set.