Patent ID: 7590802

Claim:
A method for the transferring of data from an I/O subsystem of a computer system directly to a locking cache and for the retaining of the data in the locking cache until loaded for use, the method comprising: partitioning, by a processor, a cache into a locking cache and a non-locking cache; receiving, by a cache controller, a store instruction from the an I/O subsystem; determining, by the cache controller, whether the store instruction is intended for the locking cache; configuring, by the I/O subsystem, the locking cache so that data written to the locking cache will not be overwritten by I/O subsystem until the data is loaded for use; if the store instruction is intended for the locking cache, transferring data from the I/O subsystem to the locking cache; responsive to the data being transferred to the locking cache, issuing, by the I/O subsystem, a first signal to the processor indicating that the data in the locking cache is ready for use by the processor; loading, by the processor, the data for use; and responsive to loading the data for use, issuing, by the processor, a second signal to the I/O subsystem indicating that the data in the locking cache can be overwritten by the I/O subsystem.