11.4 -Cache States

11. Cache Organization, Operation, and Coherency

11.4 Cache States

The four terms below are used to describe the state of a cache line:

Exclusive: a cache line that is present in exactly one cache in the system is exclusive, and may be in one of the exclusive states.
Dirty: a cache line that contains data that has changed since it was loaded from memory is dirty, and must be in one of the dirty or shared states.
Clean: a cache line that contains data that has not changed since it was loaded from memory is clean, and may be in one of the clean states.
Shared: a cache line that is present in more than one cache in the system.

Each primary and secondary cache line in the R4000 system is in one of the states described in Table 11-3. Table 11-3 also lists with the types of cache and the R4000 models in which the various states may be found.

Table 11-3 Cache States

Table 11-3 (cont.) Cache States

Copyright 1996, MIPS Technologies, Inc. -- 21 MAR 96

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