Patent ID: 7698509

Claim:
A system comprising: a first processor configured to broadcast a data request following a cache miss associated with a first local cache memory; a second processor associated with a second local cache memory; a first snoop filter operatively connected to the first processor and the second processor, wherein the first snoop filter comprises a first shadow tag memory storing only a copy of a plurality of tags in the first local cache memory and the second local cache memory, wherein the copy of the plurality of tags identifies data stored in the first local cache memory and the second local cache memory; a third processor associated with a third local cache memory; a second snoop filter operatively connected to the third processor and comprising a second shadow tag memory, wherein the first snoop filter is configured to relay the data request received from the first processor to the second snoop filter based on a comparison between the data request and the copy of the plurality of tags in the first shadow tag memory and receive a response from the second snoop filter based on the data request, wherein the first processor, the second processor, and the first snoop filter are associated with a first multiprocessing node (MPN), and wherein the second snoop filter and the third processor are associated with a second MPN operatively connected to the first MPN; a third MPN comprising a third snoop filter, wherein the third MPN is operatively connected to the first MPN; and a fourth MPN comprising a fourth snoop filter, wherein the fourth MPN is operatively connected to the first snoop filter, wherein the first MPN, the second MPN, the third MPN, and the fourth MPN are associated with a grid topology.