Patent ID: 6721855
Filing Date: 2004-04-13
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A method for facilitating speculative load operations in a multiprocessor system, comprising:maintaining a record at an L2 cache of speculative load operations that have returned data values through the L2 cache to associated L1 caches; wherein a speculative load operation is a load operation that is speculatively initiated before a preceding load operation has returned; wherein for each returned speculative load operation, the record contains information identifying an L1 cache associated with the speculative load operation; and in response to an invalidation event, invalidating a target line in the L2 cache, performing a lookup into the record to identify affected L1 caches that are associated with speculative load operations that may be affected by the invalidation of the target line in the L2 cache, and sending replay commands to the affected L1 caches in order to replay the affected speculative load operations, so that the affected speculative load operations take place after invalidation of the target line in the L2 cache.