Method, apparatus, and computer program product for a cache coherency protocol state that predicts locations of shared memory blocks

摘要

A method, apparatus, and computer program product are disclosed for reducing the number of unnecessarily broadcast local requests to reduce the latency to access data from remote nodes in an SMP computer system. A shared invalid cache coherency protocol state is declined that predicts whether a memory read request to read data in a shared cache line can be satisfied within a local node. When a cache line is in the shared invalid state, a valid copy of the data is predicted to be located in the local node. When a cache line is in the invalid state and not in the shared invalid state, a valid copy of the data is predicted to be located in one of the remote nodes. Memory read requests to read data in a cache line that is not currently in tile shared invalid state are broadcast first to remote nodes. Memory read requests to read data in a cache line that is currently in the shared invalid state are broadcast first to a local node, and in response to being unable to satisfy the memory read requests within the local node, the memory read requests are broadcast to the remote nodes.