Apparatus and method for supporting simultaneous storage of trace and standard cache lines

摘要

A single unified level one instruction cache in which some lines may contain traces and other lines in the same congruence class may contain blocks of instructions consistent with conventional cache lines. A mechanism is described for indexing into the cache, and selecting the desired line. Control is exercised over which lines are contained within the cache. Provision is made for selection between a trace line and a conventional line when both match during a tag compare step.