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. 06, 2000
Filed:
Nov. 25, 1997
Edward A McDonald, Baton Rouge, LA (US);
James M Ottinger, Duluth, GA (US);
Harry W Scrivener, Columbia, SC (US);
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
There is disclosed a memory control circuit for use in a processing system containing a plurality of processors coupled to a main memory by a common bus. The memory control circuit is adapted for implementing directory-based coherency in the processing system according to a selected coherency algorithm and comprises: 1) monitoring circuitry for detecting coherency corruption in a coherency directory associated with the main memory; and 2) coherency control circuitry responsive to a detection of coherency corruption in the coherency directory for dynamically modifying the selected coherency algorithm, thereby enabling the processing system to shut down in a controlled manner. In some embodiments, the monitoring circuitry further detects possible system coherency failure conditions external to the coherency directory and the coherency control circuitry responds to the detection of a possible system coherency failure condition by dynamically modifying the selected coherency algorithm, thereby enabling the processing system to shut down in a controlled manner.