CLAIM OF PRIORITY 
       [0001]    This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e)(1) to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/717,872 filed Oct. 24, 2012. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The technical field of this invention is cache for digital data processors. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    This invention is applicable to data processing systems with multi-level memory where the second level (L1) memory used for both unified (code and instructions) level two cache and flat (L2 SRAM) memory used to hold critical data and instructions. The second level memory (L2) is used for multiple purposes including unified instruction and data level two cache, directly addressable SRAM memory used to hold critical data and code accessible by both external and internal direct memory access (DMA) units. 
         [0004]    When the level one data cache controller is granted access to the level one data cache, this access could force an existing line to be evicted. The CPU can also force the level one data cache to evict lines though the block writeback operation. At the same time, the level two cache could be receiving a DMA access to the same line. This situation could break coherency, if DMA data were committed incorrectly. This could occur by writing to the level two memory then overwriting that data with the level one cache victim. This could also occur by sending the DMA data as a snoop write to the level one data cache. This forces the level one data cache to write the DMA data to its cache after the victim has been evicted. This effectively, drops the DMA write. Thus when a victim is in progress, a DMA write sent as snoop could miss the victim. 
         [0005]    Creating a heterogeneous multi-processor system can have many advantages and added flexibility. This comes with many challenges. The multiple processing cores possibly have different bus protocols. This creates a problem in how to you integrate components efficiently which speak different languages. These different protocols often make different ordering guarantees that must be unified without demolishing performance of either. The multiple processing cores may have different operating frequencies that aren&#39;t necessarily integral multiples of each other. This creates a problem in how to integrate these together to get maximum utilization of both, how to get these heterogeneous processors to work well together. There is a problem in how each processor operate individually at full utilization and efficiently share data. Answering these questions has a major effect on the overall efficiency and performance of the system. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    This invention combines a multicore shared memory controller and an asynchronous protocol converting bridge to create a very efficient heterogeneous multi-processor system. The asynchronous protocol converting bridge is a low-latency asynchronous bridge allowing the memory controller and the processor to operate at completely different frequencies and voltages. After traversing the protocol converting bridge the commands travel through the regular processor port. This allows the interconnect to remain unchanged while having any combination of different processors connected. 
         [0007]    Most prior art solutions available divides the processors into their native groups with an interconnect speaking their native language. These interconnects may or may not be connected via a bridge or bridges allowing access to the other side. 
         [0008]    This invention tightly integrates all of the processors into the same memory controller/interconnect. This provides several advantages. Solutions which separate the processors will have much higher latency to resources not on the local native interconnect. This invention has much lower latency to all resources which facilitates much more efficient sharing of data across the processors. This is very powerful combined with the hardware coherence support provided by the multi-core shared memory controller. The integration of all processor types helps systems that mainly focus on using one type of processor. In the separated solution the resources must be split across the two interconnects in some predetermined fashion. Splitting the resources like this will drastically affect the performance of different applications, making the part less flexible. In this invention all resources are easily available to all processor types, maximizing system flexibility. Converting all masters to the same protocol in the bridge reduces the required complexity in the interconnect/memory controller. Reducing the amount of state necessary in the interconnect is key to ensuring maximum bandwidth from all masters to all memory. Minimizing the complexity of the memory controller is key to quick/bug free development. 
         [0009]    In this invention all CPU ports speak the same language which allows a quick easy platform approach to manufacturing different devices for different markets. This invention permits plugging in different combinations of processors into the processor ports without memory controller/interconnect RTL changes. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]    These and other aspects of this invention are illustrated in the drawings, in which: 
           [0011]      FIG. 1  illustrates the organization of a typical digital signal processor to which this invention is applicable (prior art); 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  illustrates details of a very long instruction word digital signal processor core suitable for use in Figure (prior art); 
           [0013]      FIG. 3  illustrates the pipeline stages of the very long instruction word digital signal processor core illustrated in  FIG. 2  (prior art); 
           [0014]      FIG. 4  illustrates the instruction syntax of the very long instruction word digital signal processor core illustrated in  FIG. 2  (prior art); 
           [0015]      FIG. 5  illustrates the details of a set of typical prior art cache lines (prior art); 
           [0016]      FIG. 6  illustrates a preferred embodiment of a system on a chip of this invention; 
           [0017]      FIG. 7  illustrates an interface between one of the processing cores and the crossbar connector; 
           [0018]      FIG. 8  illustrates a detail of one embodiment of a portion of a memory endpoint controller constructed to practice the distributed coherence control of this invention; 
           [0019]      FIG. 9  illustrates the location of consecutive byte addresses in the 8 bank organization of on-chip memory of this invention; 
           [0020]      FIG. 10  illustrates relevant portions of the hardware of the arbitration portion of each memory endpoint controller of this invention; 
           [0021]      FIG. 11  illustrates the steps in the priority scheme of this invention; 
           [0022]      FIG. 12  illustrates memory mapping according to preferred embodiment of this invention; and 
           [0023]      FIG. 13  illustrates the structure of a command reordering buffer according to this invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0024]      FIG. 1  illustrates the organization of a typical digital signal processor system  100  to which this invention is applicable (prior art). Digital signal processor system  100  includes central processing unit core  110 . Central processing unit core  110  includes the data processing portion of digital signal processor system  100 . Central processing unit core  110  could be constructed as known in the art and would typically include a register file, an integer arithmetic logic unit, an integer multiplier and program flow control units. An example of an appropriate central processing unit core is described below in conjunction with  FIGS. 2 to 4 . 
         [0025]    Digital signal processor system  100  includes a number of cache memories.  FIG. 1  illustrates a pair of first level caches. Level one instruction cache (L1I)  121  stores instructions used by central processing unit core  110 . Central processing unit core  110  first attempts to access any instruction from level one instruction cache  121 . Level one data cache (L1D)  123  stores data used by central processing unit core  110 . Central processing unit core  110  first attempts to access any required data from level one data cache  123 . The two level one caches are backed by a level two unified cache (L2)  130 . In the event of a cache miss to level one instruction cache  121  or to level one data cache  123 , the requested instruction or data is sought from level two unified cache  130 . If the requested instruction or data is stored in level two unified cache  130 , then it is supplied to the requesting level one cache for supply to central processing unit core  110 . As is known in the art, the requested instruction or data may be simultaneously supplied to both the requesting cache and central processing unit core  110  to speed use. 
         [0026]    Level two unified cache  130  is further coupled to higher level memory systems. Digital signal processor system  100  may be a part of a multiprocessor system. The other processors of the multiprocessor system are coupled to level two unified cache  130  via a transfer request bus  141  and a data transfer bus  143 . A direct memory access unit  150  provides the connection of digital signal processor system  100  to external memory  161  and external peripherals  169 . 
         [0027]      FIG. 1  illustrates several data/instruction movements within the digital signal processor system  100 . These include: (1) instructions move from L2 cache  130  to L1I cache  121  to fill in response to a L1I cache miss; (2) data moves from L2 cache  130  to L1D cache  123  to fill in response to a L1D cache miss; (3) data moves from L1D cache  123  to L2 cache  130  in response to a write miss in L1D cache  123 , in response to a L1D cache  123  victim eviction and in response to a snoop from L2 cache  130 ; (4) data moves from external memory  161  to L2 cache  130  to fill in response to L2 cache miss or a direct memory access (DMA) data transfer into L2 cache  130 ; (5) data moves from L2 cache  130  to external memory  161  in response to a L2 cache victim eviction or writeback and in response to a DMA transfer out of L2 cache  130 ; (6) data moves from peripherals  169  to L2 cache  130  in response to a DMA transfer into L2 cache  130 ; and (7) data moves from L2 cache  130  to peripherals  169  is response to a DMA transfer out of L2 cache  130 . 
         [0028]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating details of a digital signal processor integrated circuit  200  suitable but not essential for use in this invention (prior art). The digital signal processor integrated circuit  200  includes central processing unit  1 , which is a 32-bit eight-way VLIW pipelined processor. Central processing unit  1  is coupled to level one instruction cache  121  included in digital signal processor integrated circuit  200 . Digital signal processor integrated circuit  200  also includes level one data cache  123 . Digital signal processor integrated circuit  200  also includes peripherals  4  to  9 . These peripherals preferably include an external memory interface (EMIF)  4  and a direct memory access (DMA) controller  5 . External memory interface (EMIF)  4  preferably supports access to supports synchronous and asynchronous SRAM and synchronous DRAM. Direct memory access (DMA) controller  5  preferably provides 2-channel auto-boot loading direct memory access. These peripherals include power-down logic  6 . Power-down logic  6  preferably can halt central processing unit activity, peripheral activity, and phase lock loop (PLL) clock synchronization activity to reduce power consumption. These peripherals also include host ports  7 , serial ports  8  and programmable timers  9 . 
         [0029]    Central processing unit  1  has a 32-bit, byte addressable address space. Internal memory on the same integrated circuit is preferably organized in a data space including level one data cache  123  and a program space including level one instruction cache  121 . When off-chip memory is used, preferably these two spaces are unified into a single memory space via the external memory interface (EMIF)  4 . 
         [0030]    Level one data cache  123  may be internally accessed by central processing unit  1  via two internal ports  3   a  and  3   b . Each internal port  3   a  and  3   b  preferably has 32 bits of data and a 32-bit byte address reach. Level one instruction cache  121  may be internally accessed by central processing unit  1  via a single port  2   a . Port  2   a  of level one instruction cache  121  preferably has an instruction-fetch width of 256 bits and a 30-bit word (four bytes) address, equivalent to a 32-bit byte address. 
         [0031]    Central processing unit  1  includes program fetch unit  10 , instruction dispatch unit  11 , instruction decode unit  12  and two data paths  20  and  30 . First data path  20  includes four functional units designated L1 unit  22 , S1 unit  23 , M1 unit  24  and D1 unit  25  and 16 32-bit A registers forming register file  21 . Second data path  30  likewise includes four functional units designated L2 unit  32 , S2 unit  33 , M2 unit  34  and D2 unit  35  and 16 32-bit B registers forming register file  31 . The functional units of each data path access the corresponding register file for their operands. There are two cross paths  27  and  37  permitting access to one register in the opposite register file each pipeline stage. Central processing unit  1  includes control registers  13 , control logic  14 , and test logic  15 , emulation logic  16  and interrupt logic  17 . 
         [0032]    Program fetch unit  10 , instruction dispatch unit  11  and instruction decode unit  12  recall instructions from level one instruction cache  121  and deliver up to eight 32-bit instructions to the functional units every instruction cycle. Processing occurs simultaneously in each of the two data paths  20  and  30 . As previously described each data path has four corresponding functional units (L, S, M and D) and a corresponding register file containing 16 32-bit registers. Each functional unit is controlled by a 32-bit instruction. The data paths are further described below. A control register file  13  provides the means to configure and control various processor operations. 
         [0033]      FIG. 3  illustrates the pipeline stages  300  of digital signal processor core  110  (prior art). These pipeline stages are divided into three groups: fetch group  310 ; decode group  320 ; and execute group  330 . All instructions in the instruction set flow through the fetch, decode, and execute stages of the pipeline. Fetch group  310  has four phases for all instructions, and decode group  320  has two phases for all instructions. Execute group  330  requires a varying number of phases depending on the type of instruction. 
         [0034]    The fetch phases of the fetch group  310  are: Program address generate phase  311  (PG); Program address send phase  312  (PS); Program access ready wait stage  313  (PW); and Program fetch packet receive stage  314  (PR). Digital signal processor core  110  uses a fetch packet (FP) of eight instructions. All eight of the instructions proceed through fetch group  310  together. During PG phase  311 , the program address is generated in program fetch unit  10 . During PS phase  312 , this program address is sent to memory. During PW phase  313 , the memory read occurs. Finally during PR phase  314 , the fetch packet is received at CPU  1 . 
         [0035]    The decode phases of decode group  320  are: Instruction dispatch (DP)  321 ; and Instruction decode (DC)  322 . During the DP phase  321 , the fetch packets are split into execute packets. Execute packets consist of one or more instructions which are coded to execute in parallel. During DP phase  322 , the instructions in an execute packet are assigned to the appropriate functional units. Also during DC phase  322 , the source registers, destination registers and associated paths are decoded for the execution of the instructions in the respective functional units. 
         [0036]    The execute phases of the execute group  330  are: Execute 1 (E1)  331 ; Execute 2 (E2)  332 ; Execute 3 (E3)  333 ; Execute 4 (E4)  334 ; and Execute 5 (E5)  335 . Different types of instructions require different numbers of these phases to complete. These phases of the pipeline play an important role in understanding the device state at CPU cycle boundaries. 
         [0037]    During E1 phase  331 , the conditions for the instructions are evaluated and operands are read for all instruction types. For load and store instructions, address generation is performed and address modifications are written to a register file. For branch instructions, branch fetch packet in PG phase  311  is affected. For all single-cycle instructions, the results are written to a register file. All single-cycle instructions complete during the E1 phase  331 . 
         [0038]    During the E2 phase  332 , for load instructions, the address is sent to memory. For store instructions, the address and data are sent to memory. Single-cycle instructions that saturate results set the SAT bit in the control status register (CSR) if saturation occurs. For single cycle  16  by  16  multiply instructions, the results are written to a register file. For M unit non-multiply instructions, the results are written to a register file. All ordinary multiply unit instructions complete during E2 phase  322 . 
         [0039]    During E3 phase  333 , data memory accesses are performed. Any multiply instruction that saturates results sets the SAT bit in the control status register (CSR) if saturation occurs. Store instructions complete during the E3 phase  333 . 
         [0040]    During E4 phase  334 , for load instructions, data is brought to the CPU boundary. For multiply extension instructions, the results are written to a register file. Multiply extension instructions complete during the E4 phase  334 . 
         [0041]    During E5 phase  335 , load instructions write data into a register. Load instructions complete during the E5 phase  335 . 
         [0042]      FIG. 4  illustrates an example of the instruction coding of instructions used by digital signal processor core  110  (prior art). Each instruction consists of 32 bits and controls the operation of one of the eight functional units. The bit fields are defined as follows. The creg field (bits  29  to  31 ) is the conditional register field. These bits identify whether the instruction is conditional and identify the predicate register. The z bit (bit  28 ) indicates whether the predication is based upon zero or not zero in the predicate register. If z=1, the test is for equality with zero. If z=0, the test is for nonzero. The case of creg=0 and z=0 is treated as always true to allow unconditional instruction execution. The creg field is encoded in the instruction opcode as shown in Table 1. 
         [0000]                                                                                              TABLE 1                           Conditional Register                    creg   z                31   30   29   28                            Unconditional   0   0   0   0           Reserved   0   0   0   1           B0   0   0   1   z           B1   0   1   0   z           B2   0   1   1   z           A1   1   0   0   z           A2   1   0   1   z           A0   1   1   0   z           Reserved   1   1   1   x                        
Note that “z” in the z bit column refers to the zero/not zero comparison selection noted above and “x” is a don&#39;t care state. This coding can only specify a subset of the 32 registers in each register file as predicate registers. This selection was made to preserve bits in the instruction coding.
 
         [0043]    The dst field (bits  23  to  27 ) specifies one of the 32 registers in the corresponding register file as the destination of the instruction results. 
         [0044]    The scr2 field (bits  18  to  22 ) specifies one of the 32 registers in the corresponding register file as the second source operand. 
         [0045]    The scr1/cst field (bits  13  to  17 ) has several meanings depending on the instruction opcode field (bits  3  to  12 ). The first meaning specifies one of the 32 registers of the corresponding register file as the first operand. The second meaning is a 5-bit immediate constant. Depending on the instruction type, this is treated as an unsigned integer and zero extended to 32 bits or is treated as a signed integer and sign extended to 32 bits. Lastly, this field can specify one of the 32 registers in the opposite register file if the instruction invokes one of the register file cross paths  27  or  37 . 
         [0046]    The opcode field (bits  3  to  12 ) specifies the type of instruction and designates appropriate instruction options. A detailed explanation of this field is beyond the scope of this invention except for the instruction options detailed below. 
         [0047]    The s bit (bit  1 ) designates the data path  20  or  30 . If s=0, then data path  20  is selected. This limits the functional unit to L1 unit  22 , S1 unit  23 , M1 unit  24  and D1 unit  25  and the corresponding register file A  21 . Similarly, s=1 selects data path  20  limiting the functional unit to L2 unit  32 , S2 unit  33 , M2 unit  34  and D2 unit  35  and the corresponding register file B  31 . 
         [0048]    The p bit (bit  0 ) marks the execute packets. The p-bit determines whether the instruction executes in parallel with the following instruction. The p-bits are scanned from lower to higher address. If p=1 for the current instruction, then the next instruction executes in parallel with the current instruction. If p=0 for the current instruction, then the next instruction executes in the cycle after the current instruction. All instructions executing in parallel constitute an execute packet. An execute packet can contain up to eight instructions. Each instruction in an execute packet must use a different functional unit. 
         [0049]      FIG. 5  illustrates the details of plural cache lines such as used in L1I cache  121 , L1D cache  123  and L2 cache  131  illustrated in  FIG. 1 . Cache  500  illustrated in  FIG. 5  includes cache lines  510 ,  520  and  520  are representative of the internal structure of cache  500 . Each of cache lines  510 ,  520  and  530  includes: respective address tags  511 ,  521  and  522 ; respective valid bits  512 ,  522  and  523 ; respective dirty bits  513 ,  523  and  533 ; respective least recently used (LRU) indicators  514 ,  524  and  534 ; and respective data words  515 ,  525  and  535 . Each cache line  510 ,  520  and  530  includes plural respective data words  515 ,  525  and  535 . The bit length of data words  515 ,  525  and  535  is set by the minimal addressable data amount of CPU  110 . This is typically 8 bits/1 byte. 
         [0050]    Cache  500  stores data from more distant memories such as external memory  131  which are accessed by a multi-bit address. Cache  500  is organized to facilitate this storage and to facilitate finding such data in the cache. Each cache line  510 ,  520  and  530  typically stores 2 N  respective data words  515 ,  525  and  535 , when N is an integer. The position of data words  515 ,  525  and  535  within the corresponding cache line  510 ,  520  and  530  along the dimension  501  serves as a proxy for the least significant bits of the address. 
         [0051]    The position of cached data within lines along dimension  502  serves as a proxy for the next most significant bits of the address. The corresponding address tags  511 ,  521  and  531  form the remainder of the data word address. To determine if a memory access is to data cached within cache  500  (a cache hit), cache  500  compares the address tags for all cache lines to the most significant bits of the memory location accessed. Upon a detecting a match, the position within the cache line along dimension  501  corresponds to the least significant bits of the address permitting identification of the data word accessed. 
         [0052]    Each data word  510 ,  520  and  530  includes a corresponding valid bit  512 ,  522  and  532 . A first state of this valid bit indicates the corresponding data words  515 ,  525  or  535  are valid. An opposite state of this valid bit indicates the corresponding data words  515 ,  525  or  535  are not valid. There are several instances where data stored within cache  500  would not be valid. Upon initial activation of digital signal processor system  100  the L1I cache  121 , L1D  123  cache and L2 cache  131  would not be loaded. Thus they would not store valid data. Accordingly, all cache lines are initially marked invalid. During a cache access a match of a requested address with address tags  511 ,  521  or  531  would not detect a match unless the corresponding valid bit  512 ,  522  or  532  indicated the data was valid. 
         [0053]    Each data word  510 ,  520  and  530  includes a corresponding dirty bit  513 ,  523  and  533 . A first state of this valid bit indicates the corresponding data words  515 ,  525  or  535  are dirty. An opposite state of this valid bit indicates the corresponding data words  515 ,  525  or  535  are not dirty (clean). Cache memory is generally used for both read accessed and write accesses. Upon a cache hit for a write access, the write data is written into the corresponding location within cache  500 . According to the preferred writeback technique, this write data is not immediately forwarded to external memory  131 . Instead the respective dirty bit  513 ,  523  or  533  is set to indicate dirty. A dirty indication means that there has been a write to the cached data not currently reflected in the base memory. According to the writeback technique this data is written to the base memory with the expectation that this writeback can accumulate plural writes to the memory location and nearby memory locations within the same cache line to reduce traffic on the bus to external memory  131 . 
         [0054]    The least recently used (LRU) bits  514 ,  524  and  534  are used when a cache line is replaced. Because the cache cannot hold all the data stored in the large, slow memory, the data within the cache must be replaced with new data regularly. Using a data words location within dimensions  501  and  502  as proxy for the least significant bits introduces a problem in locating data within cache  500 . If there is only a single cache line having the same location on dimensions  501  and  502 , then plural data from the large, slow memory will alias to the same cache line in cache  500 . This is data having the same least significant address bits corresponding to dimensions  501  and  502  but differing most significant address bits. An access to such aliased data would require the previous data at that cache line to be replaced. This is considered disadvantageous. A typical prior art cache is set associative. Thus a set of cache lines have the same location on dimensions  501  and  502 . Typical sets include two members (two-way set associative) or four members (four-way set associative). Each cache line of such a set is called a way. A cache miss to an address that aliases to one of these sets needs only to evict one of these ways. Determination of which way to evict is typically made based on prior usage of these ways. According to both the temporal and spatial locality principles more recently used cache ways are more likely to be reused than less recently used cache ways. LRU bits  514 ,  524  and  534  track accesses to cache ways within the set. When data is to be replaced the LRU bits indicate the least recently used way for replacement. Maintaining cache coherence requires writeback of a dirty way upon such replacement. 
         [0055]      FIG. 6  illustrates the construction of system on chip (SoC)  600  according to this invention. SoC  600  includes plural processing cores with cache  611 ,  612 ,  613  . . .  619 . At least one of processing cores with cache  611 ,  612 ,  613  . . .  619  are preferably constructed as illustrated in  FIGS. 1 and 2 .  FIG. 6  illustrates that core with cache  611  in connected to crossbar connection  631  via bus bridge  621 . Details of the preferred embodiment of bus bridge  621  as given below in  FIG. 7 .  FIG. 6  illustrates four processing cores with cache  611 ,  612 ,  613  . . .  619  but this invention could be practiced with any suitable plural number of processing cores with cache. 
         [0056]    Crossbar connection  631  can simultaneously connect any of processing cores with cache  611 ,  612 ,  613  . . .  619  with any of memory endpoint controllers  641 ,  642  . . .  649 . Crossbar connector  631  can simultaneously make any non-interfering connection. A non-interfering connection includes connections with only one processing core with cache and only one memory endpoint controller. Crossbar connector  631  cannot connect more than one processing core with cache to a single memory endpoint controller simultaneously nor can it connect a single processing core with cache to more than one memory endpoint controller simultaneously. 
         [0057]    Each of memory endpoint controllers  641 ,  642  . . .  649  controls access to a memory or memory-like peripheral such as peripherals  169  illustrated in  FIG. 1 . This access control includes access arbitration and coherence control. Details of these operations will be described below. This construction distributes coherence control from the processing cores with cache  611 ,  612 ,  613  . . .  619  to the memories. Memory coherence controller  641  controls access to on-chip memory in the form of memory bank 0  651  through memory bank 7  658 . Memory bank 0  651  and memory bank 7  658  are coupled to Error detection and correction scrubber  659 . Operation of error detection and correction scrubber  659  will be described below. Memory endpoint controller  642  controls access to external memory  661 . Memory endpoint controller  649  controls access to external memory  669 . 
         [0058]      FIG. 7  illustrates bus bridge  621  between core with cache  611  and crossbar connector  631 . Bus bridge  621  connects to core with cache  611  via: read address bus  701 ; write address bus  702 ; read data bus  703 ; write data bus  704 ; snoop response bus  705 ; snoop data bus  706  and snoop address bus  707 . Bus bridge  721  responses to core with cache  611  as a slave and provides all the handshake and signal information needed for communication with core with cache  611  as a slave. 
         [0059]    Bus bridge  621  supplies the read address and the write address to bus converter  722 . In  FIG. 7  bus converter  722  preferably converts addresses between an ARM™ AXI bus and a VBusM. The ARM™ AXI has separate channels for read and write transactions. Bus bridge  621  merges the AXI read and write channels onto the single VBusM R/W Command channel via bus converter  722 . This merge introduces a possibility that coherent reads can block a following memory update writeback if the coherent read triggered a snoop of other processing cores. 
         [0060]    The memory update writes that do not trigger snoops are WriteBack and WriteClean. The coherent writes that may trigger snoops are WriteUnique and WriteLineUnique. A snoop filter in the interconnect allows snooping to be done only when necessary by tracking cache line ownership by all coherent masters. Without a snoop filter, a basic interconnect must snoop all coherent masters for every coherent transaction. This can be inefficient. In the invention multi-core shared memory controller  700  includes this snoop filter as a part of overall coherency support. 
         [0061]    The converted read and write addresses as well as the read data, write data, snoop response, snoop data and snoop address pass between clock domains via asynchronous crossing  723 . Configuration registers  724  are readable and writeable by core with cache  611  via respective read address  701 /read data  703  and write address  702 /write data  704 . Multiplexer  725  selects either the write address or the snoop response to transmit to crossbar connector  631 . Multiplexer  726  selects either the write data or the snoop data to transmit to multi-core shared memory controller  700 . Configuration tieoffs  727  enable semi-permanent configuration setting via integrated circuit pin connections. 
         [0062]    Crossbar connector master interface  728  controls communication with crossbar connector  631  as a master. Crossbar connector master interface  728  provides all the handshake and signal information needed for communication with crossbar connector  631  as a master. 
         [0063]    Instead of creating an entirely separate VBusM Master Interface for all write transactions, bus bridge  721  moves the WriteBack, WriteClean, WriteNoSnoop, and Evict coherent write transactions onto new VBusM Master Interface. Crossbar connector master interface  728  shares its datapath with the existing Snoop Response/Snoop Data Master Interface. The write transactions WriteUnique and WriteLineUnique remain on the original VBusM Master Interface. 
         [0064]    Bus bridge  621  transmits either a VBus write command or a snoop response, never both. Data transfers are sent to crossbar connector  631  in the same order as the issued VBus writes and the snoop responses. Furthermore, there is only one data bus  709  on bus bridge  621  for write data and snoop data. 
         [0065]      FIG. 8  illustrates a detail of one embodiment of a portion of memory endpoint controller  641  constructed to practice the distributed coherence control of this invention. Note that conventional parts needed for a practical embodiment are omitted for clarity. The following description mentions access addresses. It is known in the art that these addresses need not be the complete endpoint memory address. a number of least significant bits of these addresses could be truncated so that the addresses refer to a larger quantity of data such as a whole cache line. 
         [0066]      FIG. 8  illustrates coherence data for a coherence write operation. A coherence write operation includes a non-allocated write and a cache line eviction. Upon a cache miss, a processing core may allocate a cache line to store the data of the memory access generating the cache miss. This cache line is one way of a set corresponding to the memory access address. If the cache line to be replaced is dirty, then the dirty data must be written out to the next level memory. This process is called a victim eviction. 
         [0067]    Memory endpoint controller  641  immediately commits the coherence write operation to the endpoint memory. Coherence transaction tracking queue  801  stores the data of this write operation and an assigned ID tag. In a preferred embodiment, the whole data is not stored but only write enable strobes corresponding to the cache dirty tags. Operation with this variation is further explained below. 
         [0068]    ID allocation block  805  allocates an identifier to this queue entry. In the preferred embodiment this identifier is a 4-bit ID tag. In the preferred embodiment ID allocation block  805  allocates the lowest unused ID tag rather than using a first-in-first-out scheme. Note that if there are no available ID tags for ID allocation block  805  to assign, then the access stalls until an ID tag is free. 
         [0069]    Memory endpoint controller  641  issues a snoop request to all processing cores that may cache the data of the coherence write. Each snoop request includes the ID tag assigned to the coherence write data queue entry. No merge operation is needed if the snoop response is Not Cached, Cached and Clean or Cached and Dirty where the same coherence write data and snoop data are dirty. Comparator  802  compares the coherence write data in coherence transaction tracking queue  801  having the ID tag of the snoop return. If the snoop return is Cached and Dirty with different dirty data in the snoop return than in the coherence write, then comparator  802  triggers a merge write operation. This merge write operation includes only data dirty in the snoop response and clean in the coherence write. As noted above coherence write data queue may store only the corresponding dirty tags or derived write enable strobes. This data and the snoop return data and the dirty tags corresponding to the snoop data from the other processing core are sufficient to determine the data for the merge write. This is advantageous because the dirty tags or write enable strobes comprise less data to be stored in coherence write data queue than the data itself. 
         [0070]    Coherence maintenance address queue  804  stores the address of each endpoint memory access. On transmitting an access to the endpoint memory, ID allocation block  805  allocates an ID tag and opens an entry in coherence maintenance address queue  803 . In the preferred embodiment ID allocation block  805  uses the same block of 4-bit ID tags for coherence transaction tracking queue  801  and coherence maintenance address queue  804 . As previously described, ID allocation block  805  preferably allocates the lowest unused ID tag. 
         [0071]    Comparator  803  compares the addresses of all read or write accesses to the entries of coherence maintenance address queue  804 . If the addresses do not match, the access is not stalled. If the addresses match, then comparator  803  stalls the current access. Eventually the blocking entry in coherence maintenance address queue  804  will be retired by completion signal from the endpoint memory. The endpoint memory identifies the completion signal by the corresponding ID tag assigned initially by ID allocation block  805 . Thereafter the previously stalled access will no longer be blocked. 
         [0072]    On-chip memory′  651  is organized using 8 banks that consist internally of four sub-banks that hold adjacently addressed locations. The banks are addressed such that 128-byte aligned, 128-byte segments of memory are located in different banks. In addition 32-byte aligned addresses within each 128-byte segment that are addressed in a bank, are located in different sub-banks. The 128-byte banking structure aligns the cache line size of the preferred embodiment. 
         [0073]      FIG. 9  illustrates the location of consecutive byte addresses in the 8 bank organization of on-chip memory  651  . . .  658  according to an embodiment of this invention. Memory  900  includes 8 memory banks  910 ,  920 ,  930 ,  940 ,  950 ,  960 ,  970  and  980 . As illustrated in  FIG. 9  each memory banks  910 ,  920 ,  930 ,  940 ,  950 ,  960 ,  970  and  980  includes four subbanks.  FIG. 9  illustrates that memory bank  970  includes subbanks  971 ,  972 ,  973  and  974 .  FIG. 9  illustrates that memory bank  980  includes subbanks  981 ,  982 ,  983  and  984 . In this embodiment bits  7 ,  8  and  9  of the byte address are used to select between the eight banks  910 ,  920 ,  930 ,  940 ,  950 ,  960 ,  970  and  980 . Bits  5  and  6  of the address is used to select the sub-bank in the selected bank such as subbanks  971 ,  972 ,  973  and  974  of bank  970  and subbanks  981 ,  982 ,  983  and  984  of bank  980 . The address mapping shown allows a 128-byte cache line to reside completely in one bank. This permits the remaining banks to be used for other accesses in the same cycle. The sub-banks are 4-wait state, 256-bit wide arrays. Accesses to the half-lines are interleaved among sub-banks in back-to-back cycles. Employing this address mapping shown, each successive 32-byte data phase from the processors cores addresses one sub-bank. 
         [0074]      FIG. 10  illustrates relevant portions of the hardware of the arbitration portion of each memory endpoint controller. The arbitration portion of each memory endpoint controller  641 ,  642  . . .  649  uses dynamic three-level priority scheme. These three levels are: priority level; fair share count; and starvation count. The priority scheme attempts to fairly allocate the number of access opportunities and bandwidth among the requesters.  FIG. 10  illustrates portions common to each memory endpoint controller  641 ,  642  . . .  649 . Memory endpoint controller  641 ,  642  . . .  649  may include additional logic specific to the requirements of the corresponding endpoint. Each requesting processing core with cache  611 ,  612 ,  612  . . .  619  may present only one access request among all endpoint arbiters in a given cycle. Thus the return path for reads is reserved at the time a command wins arbitration. Access is granted based upon a tuple (m, n) consisting of a priority level m and a fair share count n with a supplemental starvation counter. 
         [0075]      FIG. 10  illustrates that each requestor provides a priority level m to the memory endpoint arbitrator  1000 . This priority level m is a function of the particular application running on the requestor and the nature of the requestor. This priority level m is expected to be relatively static during operation. A fair share count register ( 1013 ,  1063 ) is assigned to each requester. The value of this fair share count register is supplied to memory endpoint arbitrator  1080 . The fair share value is used to select among requestors presenting the same priority level m in a manner that will be explained below. A starvation count reset value ( 1011 ,  1061 ) and a starvation count register ( 1012 ,  1062 ) are provided for each requester. The starvation count reset value is preferably writable by a memory mapped configuration write. The starvation count is initially set to the corresponding starvation count reset value. The starvation count value is changed as detailed below. The starvation count primarily ensures that low priority requestors are not completely shut out by higher priority requestors. 
         [0076]      FIG. 11  illustrates the steps in the priority scheme  1100  of this invention. Priority scheme  1100  begins with start block  1101  indicating at least one access request is pending. Step  1102  determines whether there are plural pending access requests. If there is only a single access request pending (No at step  1102 ), then the pending request is granted access in step  1103 . Step  1109  resets the starvation counter for the requestor granted access. Scheme  1100  is then complete for the current cycle and exits at end block  1110 . 
         [0077]    If there are plural requests for access pending (Yes at step  1102 ), then step  1104  determines the highest priority level m among the plural pending requests and whether there are plural pending requests having this highest priority level. If there is a single pending request having the highest priority level m (No at step  1106 ), then this pending request with the highest priority level m is granted access in step  1105 . 
         [0078]    Priority scheme  1100  then adjusts the starvation counters. Step  1111  decrements the starvation count of any stalled, pending access. Step  1112  determines whether any decremented starvation count has reached zero. If a starvation counter has reached zero (Yes at step  1112 ), step  1113  sets the priority m of any such requestor at the highest priority. If a starvation counter had not reached zero (No at step  1112 ) or following step  1113 , step  1109  resets the starvation counter for the requestor granted access. Scheme  1100  is then complete for the current cycle and exits at end block  1110 . 
         [0079]    If there are plural pending requests having the highest priority level m (Yes at step  1104 ), then step  1106  determines whether there plural requestors having both this maximum priority level m and the same maximum fair share count n. If there is only one such requestor (No at step  1106 ), then step  1107  grants access to that requestor. Step  1114  adjusts the fair share counts of all pending requestors including the requestor granted access. The fair share count n of each stalled requestor having the maximum priority level m is incremented by 1. The fair share count n of the requestor granted access is decremented by the number of stalled requestors with the same priority level m. This process maintains the sum of the fair share levels n. Step  1111  decrements the starvation count of any stalled, pending access. Step  1112  determines whether any decremented starvation count has reached zero. If a starvation counter has reached zero (Yes at step  1112 ), step  1114  sets the priority m of any such requestor at the highest priority. If a starvation counter had not reached zero (No at step  1112 ) or following step  1113 , step  1109  resets the starvation counter for the requestor granted access. Scheme  1100  is then complete for the current cycle and exits at end block  1110 . 
         [0080]    If plural requestors have both the same maximum priority level m and the same maximum fair share count n (Yes at step  1106 ), then step  1108  selects a requestor for access grant based upon a fixed order among the plural requestors. 
         [0081]    Step  1114  adjusts the fair share counts of all pending requestors including the requestor granted access as previously described. Step  1111  decrements the starvation count of any stalled, pending access. Step  1112  determines whether any decremented starvation count has reached zero. If a starvation counter has reached zero (Yes at step  1112 ), step  1113  sets the priority m of any such requestor at the highest priority. If a starvation counter had not reached zero (No at step  1112 ) or following step  1113 , step  1109  resets the starvation counter for the requestor granted access. Scheme  1100  is then complete for the current cycle and exits at end block  1110 . 
         [0082]    The arbitration priority level of a transaction is tracked in terms of a tuple &lt;m, n&gt; where m is the priority level specified in the VBusM command and n is the weighted age-based priority modifier called a fair-share count generated by the arbitration scheme that is tracked per requestor in each arbiter. The fair-share counters for all requestors are initialized to 0 at reset. The three levels are: 
         [0083]    1. The arbiter at each available bank selects the request with the highest priority level m. 
         [0084]    2. If more than one request has the highest priority value for m, among these requests, the request with the higher fair share count value n is selected. 
         [0085]    3. If there is still a tie, a fixed priority among requestors is used to break this tie. 
         [0086]    The fair share count assures equal access among requestors having the same priority level m. The fair share count causes access grant to rotate among these requestors. 
         [0087]    The starvation count system prevents a low priority requestor from being permanently frozen out of access. The priority level m is set to the highest priority if the requestor has been continuously stalled for the number of cycles set in the starvation count. Upon promotion of priority the requestor may not gain access the next cycle because there may be another highest priority requestor seeking access. The fair count assures this promoted requestor will obtain access. Resetting the starvation count upon access (step  1109 ) also resets the promoted priority level to the requestor&#39;s base priority level. 
         [0088]    System on Chip  600  preferably includes an error detection and correction system. Data stored within SoC  600  includes parity bits for error detection and correction. In the preferred embodiment, a 2-bit detect, 1-bit correct system is used which includes 11 parity bits for each 256 data bits. Upon reading data from an external source to be stored internally (such as internal memories  651  . . .  658  or caches within cores  641  . . .  649 ), SoC  600  computes a new parity value for the incoming data. This parity data is stored in a parity memory at locations corresponding to the protected data. When a processor core reads from internal memory a new parity value is computed and checked against the stored parity value. Writes by a processing core to any of these memories includes computing a parity value for the new data to be stored in the corresponding location in the parity memory. 
         [0089]    Memory banks  651  to  658  include an additional error correction feature called scrubbing. Error detection and correction scrubber  659  is a global state machine that periodically cycles through each location of each memory bank, reading and correcting the data, recalculating the parity bits for the data and storing the data and parity information. This takes place via corresponding read-modify-write cycles. Each read-modify-write of a location by error detection and correction scrubber  659  needs to be atomic. Once error detection and correction scrubber  659  wins arbitration for a bank, it is granted uninterrupted access for the duration of the read and write back of a location. The accesses by error detection and correction scrubber  659  are accorded the highest priority next to victim reads by the bank arbiter. A fully pipelined scrub burst sequence contains 8 reads followed by 8 writes. This locks out the corresponding memory bank for 16 cycles but results in better utilization of the bandwidth available a the banks. 
         [0090]    The frequency between scrubbing cycles set by the delay between each burst by Error detection and correction scrubber  659 . In the preferred embodiment this may be programmed using a configuration register. A bit field REFDEL is programmed to control the number of clock cycles between each scrub burst. This value is preferably scaled to prevent specification of too frequent scrubbing bursts reducing memory performance. Error detection and correction scrubber  659  is enabled by default at reset but may be disabled by resetting a bit in a configuration register. 
         [0091]    Error detection and correction scrubber  659  preferably can log errors and locally collect statistics about scrubbing errors. If error detection and correction scrubber  659  detects a 1-bit correctable error, it preferably corrects the error to restore the data and logs the address of the error and the syndrome value identifying the erroneous bit and increments a SCEC (Scrub Correctable Error Counter) field in a corresponding configuration register. If error detection and correction scrubber  659  detects a 2-bit error which is not correctable, it logs the address and increments the SNCEC (Scrub Non-Correctable Error Counter). The SCEC and SNCED fields can be read to provide statistics on error generation. This permits adjustment of the number of clock cycles between each scrub burst based upon error rate. If the error rate is high, scrub cycles may be initiated more frequently. If the error rate is low, less frequent scrubbing may be implemented to reduce power consumption and interference with functional memory access traffic. 
         [0092]      FIG. 12  illustrates memory mapping according to a preferred embodiment of this invention. A plurality for segment registers  1210  store attributes and replacement addresses for corresponding segments of the address space. Each segment register  1210  includes an upper section  1211  storing a privilege identity (PRIVID) for the corresponding segment, a base segment address and a valid indicator. Each segment register  1210  includes a lower section  1212  storing the upper order bits of the replacement address and permissions required for that memory segment. Comparators  1221  and  1222  compare an incoming virtual address with the privilege identity (PRIVID), base segment address and valid indicator of the upper section  1211  of a corresponding segment register  1210 . Valid OR gate  1250  generates an active Hit/Valid signal if the virtual address matches the address of a segment register, the requestor presents a matching PRIVID and the segment is marked as valid. Upon such a hit multiplexer  1230  selects the replacement address and permissions of the segment register hit. Protection check comparator  1240  compares the permission recalled from the hit segment register with the privilege attributes of the requestor. If these match protection check comparator  120  generates a protection result permitting this access. The mapped physical address is the upper bits (here illustrated as bits  12  to  39  (recalled from the hit segment register) and lower bits (here illustrated as bits  0  to  11 ) from the original virtual address of the requestor. 
         [0093]    Segment registers  1210  may cover all memory space, thus a hit is guaranteed for all valid addresses. Alternately, the data in segment registers  1210  may be replaces on an as needed basis in a data cache-like fashion. 
         [0094]    Each processing core with cache  611 ,  612 ,  613  . . .  619  a command reordering buffer  1300  as illustrated in  FIG. 13 . Each processing core with cache  611 ,  612 ,  613  . . .  619  may issue demand access requests for reads or writes or may issue prefetch commands. Prefetch commands are issued based upon prior demand accesses causing a cache miss in an attempt anticipate following demand requests. A completed prefetch command stores data in a cache on anticipation a following demand access may hit this data in the cache. An effective prefetch thus anticipates demand accesses by the processing core and hides the cache miss latency. Command reordering buffer  1300  is organized to compensate for the latency between cache traffic controller inside the processing core and the memory controller. Command reordering buffer  1300  is organized to facilitate traffic management between read and write demand requests and prefetch read requests. 
         [0095]    For demand requests, the command reordering buffer  1300  can store up to two non-speculative (demand) commands before it stalls further demand requests. A first demand command is stored in command pipeline register  1301 . A second demand command may be stored in demand elastic buffer  1302 . Demand elastic buffer  1302  is only used to store a command when the demand command in command pipeline register  1301  that is presented to an endpoint arbiter fails to win arbitration. Command reordering buffer  1300  can store prefetches of two sizes. Command reordering buffer  1300  can store up to 4 32-byte prefetch requests consisting of program prefetches due triggered by a L1I  121  each miss. Command reordering buffer  1300  can store up to 4 64-byte prefetch requests consisting of data prefetches trigger by an L1D  123  cache miss or triggered by an L2  130  cache miss. 
         [0096]    Every memory access cycle, one command is selected from command reordering buffer  1300  to be presented to the endpoint arbiters at the memory banks. If a cdepend signal on the processing core interface is high the commands are selected in order of arrival. If cdepend is low commands addressing internal memory or external memory are re-ordered to improve performance using the rules. Demand reads are selected ahead of prefetch reads of any size. Demand read requests are selected ahead of independent write requests if there is no addressed range overlap between the read and the write. Prefetch reads are selected ahead of independent write requests with no addressed range overlap between the prefetch read and the write with a lower priority. In this case 64 byte prefetch reads are selected ahead of write requests and 32 byte prefetch requests and 32 byte prefetch requests are selected ahead of write requests. 
         [0097]    The following reordering limitations apply. For back to back writes to different endpoints, an inactive ready signal from the first endpoint can block the second write command. The write commands will not be reordered to allow the second write command to pass the first if the endpoint, for the first command blocks the write data. This allows writes from other slave ports to address the second endpoint, and not be blocked. If a write command presented by the command reorder buffer wins arbitration at the endpoint in the same cycle that a new demand read is latched into the pipeline register, the arbitration slot is forfeited and the command presented to the endpoint, arbiter is switched to the demand read.
This invention combines a multicore shared memory controller and an asynchronous protocol converting bridge to create a very efficient heterogeneous multi-processor system. After traversing the protocol converting bridge the commands travel through the regular processor port. This allows the interconnect to remain unchanged while having any combination of different processors connected. This invention tightly integrates all of the processors into the same memory controller/interconnect.