Patent ID: 6874063

Claim:
A system for informing a processor of an order for transmittal of data from a cache line of a cache, said system comprising: means for coupling said cache to said processor unit to effectuate data transfer, means for receiving at said cache a preference of ordering data retrieval for a read request issued from said processor, wherein said preference of ordering data retrieval is represented by a hierarchical sequence of preference of ordering data retrieval issued from said processor; means for determining an order in which to transmit said data from a cache line of said cache by evaluating said hierarchical sequence of preference of ordering and comparing said hierarchical sequence of preference of ordering with a cache preference of ordering, wherein said hierarchical sequence is evaluated to determine if a highest preference may be honored, and if said highest preference cannot be honored, a next highest preference available is selected and said data is issued according to the highest preference available; and means for issuing to said coupling means a selected order bit set ahead of said data, wherein said selected order bit set informs said processor unit of a selected order for data retrieval and said is data is transmitted in said selected order.