Snoop filter for filtering snoop requests
First Claim
1. A snoop filtering method for supporting cache coherency in a computing environment having multiple processing units, each processing unit implementing a corresponding snoop filter apparatus, said method comprising:
- receiving, at a plurality of inputs, a snoop request from a plurality of memory writing sources in said computing environment, each input corresponding to a memory writing source of said plurality of memory writing sources;
providing at each of said plurality of inputs a snoop filter means for concurrently filtering received respective snoop requests from a corresponding memory writing source; and
,each snoop filter means implementing one or more parallel operating sub-filter elements for simultaneously processing received snoop requests and forwarding a subset thereof to said associated processing unit,whereby as a result of said concurrent filtering, a number of snoop requests forwarded to a processing unit is reduced thereby increasing performance of said computing environment.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for supporting cache coherency in a multiprocessor computing environment having multiple processing units, each processing unit having one or more local cache memories associated and operatively connected therewith. The method comprises providing a snoop filter device associated with each processing unit, each snoop filter device having a plurality of dedicated input ports for receiving snoop requests from dedicated memory writing sources in the multiprocessor computing environment. Each snoop filter device includes a plurality of parallel operating port snoop filters in correspondence with the plurality of dedicated input ports, each port snoop filter implementing one or more parallel operating sub-filter elements that are adapted to concurrently filter snoop requests received from respective dedicated memory writing sources and forward a subset of those requests to its associated processing unit.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A snoop filtering method for supporting cache coherency in a computing environment having multiple processing units, each processing unit implementing a corresponding snoop filter apparatus, said method comprising:
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receiving, at a plurality of inputs, a snoop request from a plurality of memory writing sources in said computing environment, each input corresponding to a memory writing source of said plurality of memory writing sources; providing at each of said plurality of inputs a snoop filter means for concurrently filtering received respective snoop requests from a corresponding memory writing source; and
,each snoop filter means implementing one or more parallel operating sub-filter elements for simultaneously processing received snoop requests and forwarding a subset thereof to said associated processing unit, whereby as a result of said concurrent filtering, a number of snoop requests forwarded to a processing unit is reduced thereby increasing performance of said computing environment. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification