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:
May. 09, 2000
Filed:
Oct. 24, 1997
Stephen Van Doren, Northborough, MA (US);
Simon C Steely, Jr, Hudson, NH (US);
Robert Eugene Stewart, Stow, MA (US);
James Bernard Keller, Waltham, MA (US);
Compaq Computer Corporation, Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
In accordance with the present invention, a method and apparatus is provided for storing victim data evicted from a cache and for satisfying pending requests or probe messages that target victim data, using a set of victim data buffers coupled to a central processing unit of a computer system. Storage locations referred to as a 'victim valid bit' and a 'probe valid bit' are associated with each victim data buffer in the computer system to indicate a release condition for the coupled victim data buffer. With such an arrangement, the victim data buffer can be deallocated when the victim valid bit and the probe valid bit have both been cleared.