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:
Jun. 09, 1998
Filed:
Dec. 08, 1995
Edward A McDonald, Baton Rouge, LA (US);
NCR Corporation, Dayton, OH (US);
Abstract
A mechanism for distributing interrupts to processors within a multi-processing system including a cache memory corresponding to each processor, a main memory, a bus structure connecting the processors and their associated cache memories with the main memory, and a cache coherency mechanism to maintain data consistency between the cache memories and the main memory. An address within the main memory is assigned to each processor within the system, the assigned address being associated with an interrupt for the processor to which it is assigned. For each processor, a copy of the contents of its assigned address is thereafter read into its corresponding cache memory. Thereafter when a cache coherency operation to update the contents or status of the cache memory address occurs, a comparison is made between the cache memory address presented to the cache memory through the system bus structure and a stored interrupt base address. An interrupt signal for the processor is generated when the comparison determines a match between the cache memory address presented to the cache memory through the system bus structure and a stored interrupt base address.