Patent ID: 6108735
Filing Date: 2000-08-22
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A computer system comprising:a bus;a first agent coupled to the bus;a second agent coupled to the bus for issuing to the first agent a first request for a response, the first request including a first identifier; anda third agent coupled to the bus for issuing to the second agent an appropriate response wherein the appropriate response is selected from the group comprising normal response with data, normal response without data, hard failure response, and implicit write back response if the second agent does not respond, the third agent including,a comparator for comparing identifiers of responses against the first identifier to determine whether any of the responses is responsive to the request;means for tracking and identifying outstanding requests on the bus;means, responsive to the means for tracking and identifying, for determining a total number of outstanding requests; andmeans, responsive to the means for determining, for issuing a response to the request onto the bus when a predetermined number of outstanding requests has been identified.