Appeal No. 94-3710
Application 07/777,608
computer memory management system that uses a memory
segmentation scheme. Segment descriptors, which each contain
information pertaining to a particular memory segment, are
stored in a segment descriptor table in main memory. When a
segment descriptor needs to be loaded into the segment
register, it will be loaded from the segment descriptor cache
if it is present in the segment descriptor cache. If not, the
segment descriptor is copied from the segment descriptor table
into a data cache. The segment descriptor is also
reformatted, and the reformatted segment descriptor is stored
in the segment descriptor cache.
Claim 1 is directed at a method of providing coherency
between the entries in the segment descriptor cache and
entries in the segment descriptor table (i.e., ensuring that
entries in the segment descriptor cache are not used if the
corresponding entry in the segment descriptor table has
changed). In claim 1, each entry in the data cache has an
inclusion bit. When set, the inclusion bit indicates that the
data cache entry is associated with an entry in the segment
descriptor cache. When a data cache entry with a set
inclusion bit is swapped out or modified, then the entire
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