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. 20, 2004
Filed:
Apr. 20, 2001
Rajasekhar Cherabuddi, Cupertino, CA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
The resources of a partitioned cache memory are dynamically allocated between two or more processors on a multi-processor unit (MPU). In one embodiment, the MPU includes first and second processors, and the cache memory includes first and second partitions. A cache access circuit selectively transfers data between the cache memory partitions to maximize cache resources. In one mode, both processors are active and may simultaneously execute separate instruction threads. In this mode, the cache access circuit allocates the first cache memory partition as dedicated cache memory for the first processor, and allocates the second cache memory partition as dedicated cache memory for the second processor. In another mode, one processor is active, and the other processor is inactive. In this mode, the cache access circuit allocates both the first and second cache memory partitions as cache memory for the active processor.