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:
Dec. 13, 2005
Filed:
Sep. 26, 2002
James A. Williams, Mahtomedi, MN (US);
Robert H. Andrighetti, Somerset, WI (US);
Conrad S. Shimada, Oakdale, MN (US);
Donald C. Englin, Shoreview, MN (US);
James A. Williams, Mahtomedi, MN (US);
Robert H. Andrighetti, Somerset, WI (US);
Conrad S. Shimada, Oakdale, MN (US);
Donald C. Englin, Shoreview, MN (US);
Unisys Corporation, Blue Bell, PA (US);
Abstract
A system and method is provided to selectively flush data from cache memory to a main memory irrespective of the replacement algorithm that is used to manage the cache data. According to one aspect of the invention, novel 'page flush' and 'cache line flush' instructions are provided to flush a page and a cache line of memory data, respectively, from a cache to a main memory. In one embodiment, these instructions are included within the hardware instruction set of an Instruction Processor (IP). According to another aspect of the invention, flush operations are initiated using a background interface that interconnects the IP with its associated cache memory. A primary interface that also interconnects the IP to the cache memory is used to simultaneously issue higher-priority requests so that processor throughput is increased.