US 5,555,398 AGranted

Write back cache coherency module for systems with a write through cache supporting bus

AssigneeIntel Corporation

InventorSrinivas Raman

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Abstract

A system and method for guaranteeing coherency between a write back cache and main memory in a computer system that does not have the bus level signals for a conventional write back cache memory. Cache coherency can be maintained by writing back all modified data in the cache prior to execution of the command that initiate the DMA or Bus Master transfer to or from main memory. When bus snooping logic detects writes from the CPU, the cache and main memory are synchronized. After synchronization, the bus snooper continues to look for access hits to modified data in the cache. If hits occurs and it is a DMA cycle, the CPU is prevented from further accesses to cache until after the DMA transfer, modified bytes are written back to main memory. If it is a bus master device seeking access to main memory, the CPU is prevented from further accesses to cache until the modified bytes are written back to main memory.

Claims6

Dependent claims

A write back cache coherency system for a computer wherein said computer includes at least one bus that contains snooping signals but not write back support signals, a CPU communicating with said bus, a cache memory communicating with said CPU and having a plurality of addresses for storing data which are organized into lines and a plurality of status bits indicating at least whether a line is in an invalid, modified or exclusive state, a main memory communicating with said bus, a DMA controller connected to said bus, at least one device to said bus, a plurality of additional addressable devices in said computer system each connected to a bus, said cache coherency system comprising:

a cache tag array connected to said cache memory, said cache tag array containing one bit per byte in said cache memory and adapted to indicate if a particular byte in cache has been written to by said CPU;
a cache coherency module added to computer, said cache coherency module including a bus snooping sub-module connected to said bus for monitoring the address and control signals thereon, a system address sub-module which includes a DMA address table containing the addresses of registers of said DMA controller, an I/O address table containing the addresses of all non-standard I/O devices, a memory table containing the addresses of all non-standard memory addresses and a non-standard interrupt table, and a logic sub-module is connected to said bus snooping sub-module and said system address sub-module and providing control signals to said cache memory, said logic sub-module in conjunction with said bus-snooping sub-module and said system address sub-module being adapted to:
indicate when said DMA controller is programmed by said CPU to allow an external I/O device to read or write to main memory, and upon such an event, supplying a signal to said cache memory causing the synchronization thereof with said main memory;
indicate when said CPU performs a write to a non-standard I/O or memory address, and upon such an event, supply a signal to said cache memory causing the synchronization thereof with said main memory;
indicate when a non-standard interrupt has been sent to the CPU by an external device, and upon such an event, supply a signal to said cache memory causing the synchronization thereof with said main memory;
indicate when an inquiry cycle is being run and a hit to a modified line has occurred as a result thereof, and upon such an event, supply a signal to said CPU that stops CPU access to said cache memory;
indicate when said external I/O device has completed its read or write to main memory as programmed by said DMA, and upon such event, supply a signal to said cache memory causing any modified data therein to be written back to said main memory and changing the line containing said modified data to the invalid state.

4 more elements

In a computer system which includes one or more busses that contain snooping signals but not backoff signals, a CPU connected to said bus, a cache memory connected to said CPU and having a plurality of bytes organized into lines and a plurality of status bits indicating at least whether a line was in a modified or exclusive state, a main memory space, an I/O address space, a plurality of addressable devices some portion of which have standard addresses in I/O address space, a DMA controller having registers programmable by said CPU to allow external I/O devices to write to main memory and a status register indicating the condition of said write by an external I/O device and one or more external devices capable of accessing main memory through said DMA controller, and wherein said computer system supports a conventional interrupt scheme including standard and non-standard interrupts, a method of maintaining cache coherency comprising:

monitoring said bus for and detecting an action consisting of said DMA controller being programmed to allow an external device to read or write to main memory, and if such a action is detected, then:
synchronizing said cache;
monitoring the snoop inquire cycles on said bus and detecting any inquiry hit to modified data in said cache;
upon detecting an inquiry hit to modified data in said cache, preventing further access by said CPU to cache to until completion of the read or write to main memory by said external device programmed by said DMA is detected;
upon detection of said completion, writing back all bytes in cache memory in the modified state and causing said cache lines in which said modified data is contained to be put in said invalid state;
and
allowing said CPU to continue processing;
and
monitoring said bus for and detecting an action consisting of a write to non-standard I/O space by said CPU, a write to non-standard memory space by said CPU, or a non-standard interrupt, and if such an event is detected, then:
synchronizing said cache and main memory after detecting such event;
monitoring said snoop inquire cycles on said bus and detecting any inquiry hit to modified data in said cache;
upon detecting an inquiry hit to modified data in said cache, preventing access by said CPU to said cache;
acquiring control of said system bus and writing back said modified data and causing said cache lines in which said modified data is contained to be put in said invalid state;
and
allowing said CPU to continue processing.

12 more elements

A pseudo write back cache memory system for a computer having a CPU, main memory and a plurality of external devices all of which are connected to a bus that does not have bus level signals to implement a conventional write back cache memory, said system comprising:

a write back cache memory connected to said CPU, said cache memory being organized into words and including a line status logic that allows each line to be in any one of the following states:
exclusive, modified, invalid or shared;
a bus snooping sub-module connected to said bus for monitoring the address and control signals thereon, wherein said bus-snooping sub-module including an address comparator circuit;
a system address sub-module connected to said bus snooping sub-module, said system address sub-module including:
a DMA address table containing the addresses of registers of a DMA controller;
an I/O address table containing the addresses of all non-standard I/O devices;
a memory table containing the addresses of all non-standard memory addresses;
and
a non-standard interrupt table containing the codes for all non-standard interrupts;
a logic sub-module connected to said bus snooping sub-module and said system address sub-module and providing control signals to said cache memory;
means connected to said detection means and said cache memory for synchronizing said cache memory with said main memory upon detecting an access request and prior to access by said device, said synchronizing means including logic in said logic sub-module responsive to said snooping sub-module and said system address sub-module for providing:
a write back signal to said cache memory upon detection of an access request;
and
a state signal causing data in said cache in the modified state to change to the exclusive state;
means connected to said cache memory for detecting data in said cache memory that has been modified since the most recent synchronization of said cache and main memory;
means connected to cache memory for freezing said CPU upon detection of said modification;
means connected to said cache memory for causing said modified data detected by said detection means to be written back to said main memory;
and
means for making said modified data not available to said CPU.

16 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.