Method and apparatus for masking and unmasking a clock signal in an integrated circuit

摘要

A microprocessor having a cache memory unit, an execution unit, and clock masking circuitry is described. Both units are responsive to a clock signal that can be masked by the clock masking circuitry in order to reduce the power consumption of the microprocessor. Based on a signal that indicates a potential impending cache snoop, the clock masking circuitry can unmask the clock signal to the cache unit without unmasking the clock signal to the execution unit.