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.

Date of Patent:
Dec. 16, 2003

Filed:

Jun. 26, 2000
Applicant:
Inventors:

David A. Comisky, Plano, TX (US);

Sanjive Agarwala, Richardson, TX (US);

Timothy D. Anderson, Dallas, TX (US);

Charles L. Fuoco, Allen, TX (US);

Assignee:
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 1/200 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 1/200 ;
Abstract

This invention enables a program controlled cache state operation on a program designated address range. The program controlled cache state operation could be writeback of data cached from the program designated address range to a higher level memory or such writeback and invalidation of data cached from the program designated address range. A cache operation unit includes a base address register and a word count register loadable by the central processing unit. The program designated address range is from a base address for a number of words of the word count register. In the preferred embodiment the program controlled cache state operation begins upon loading the word count register. The cache operation unit may operate on fractional cache entries by handling misaligned first and last cycles. Alternatively, The cache operation unit may operate only on whole cache entries. The base address register increments and the word count register decrements until when the word count reaches zero.


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