Patent ID: 6763433
Filing Date: 2004-07-13
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A method of performing an intervention, said method comprising:in response to a caching device snooping a data access request initiated by a requesting device, said data access request identifying a data block of requested data that said caching device holds in a valid coherency state, said caching device: (1) determining whether said caching device is required or permitted to supply said requested data to said requesting device by data intervention, and (2) selecting either a full intervention in which all of said data block of requested data will be transmitted or a partial intervention in which only a partial data block of said requested data will be transmitted, wherein said selecting includes selecting partial intervention responsive to determining at least one of: (a) that the requesting device is likely to be required to invalidate the requested data soon after receipt, or (b) that the requesting device should not cache the requested data; responsive to selection of a full intervention, transmitting the full data block of requested data from said caching device to the requesting device; and responsive to selection of a partial intervention, transmitting only the partial data block of requested data from the caching device to the requesting device.