Patent ID: 7167952

Claim:
A method of writing to cache comprising: initiating a write operation to a cache; in a cache mode: detecting the presence or absence of a write miss; if a write miss is absent, writing data to said cache; if a write miss is present, retrieving said data from a further memory and writing said data to said cache; in a memory mode: placing said cache in a memory mode for performing a cache write, said placing said cache in the memory mode including setting a memory mode bit, the memory mode bit logically combined with a write directory pulse to generate a memory mode write pulse; writing said data to said cache regardless of whether a write miss is present or absent to update a cache directory with the contents of a target address, said writing said data including a logical operation of the memory mode write pulse and a cache hit write pulse, wherein in the absence of a cache hit write pulse, said data is written to said cache in the presence of said memory mode write pulse.