Patent ID: 7676629

Claim:
A method, comprising: storing a current cacheability characteristic attributed to a physical address of a page of physical memory, wherein said current cacheability characteristic comprises a data structure disposed in a memory of a computer, wherein said data structure functions to provide information corresponding to said current cacheability characteristic attributed to said page of physical memory and wherein said data structure comprises a data field for identifying said current cacheability characteristic, wherein said data structure is indexed by an identifier corresponding to said physical memory page; accessing an identifier of said page of physical memory and an associated desired cacheability state corresponding to said physical memory page from a candidate entry to a translation lookaside buffer; comparing said current cacheability characteristic and said desired cacheability state; upon a match, entering said candidate entry to said translation lookaside buffer; and upon a mismatch, generating an exception wherein said exception causes enforcement of a consistent cacheability characteristic for said page of physical memory.