DEFERRING CACHE STATE UPDATES IN A NON-SPECULATIVE CACHE MEMORY IN A PROCESSOR-BASED SYSTEM IN RESPONSE TO A SPECULATIVE DATA REQUEST UNTIL THE SPECULATIVE DATA REQUEST BECOMES NON-SPECULATIVE

摘要

Deferring cache state updates in a non-speculative cache memory in a processor-based system in response to a speculative data request until the speculative data request becomes non-speculative is disclosed. The updating of at least one cache state in the cache memory resulting from a data request is deferred until the data request becomes non-speculative. Thus, a cache state in the cache memory is not updated for requests resulting from mispredictions. Deferring the updating of a cache state in the cache memory can include deferring the storing of received speculative requested data in the main data array of the cache memory as a result of a cache miss until the data request becomes non-speculative. The received speculative requested data can first be stored in a speculative buffer memory associated with a cache memory, and then stored in the main data array if the data request becomes non-speculative.