Caches
Copyright © ARM Limited 2000. All rights reserved.
3-9
3.3.2
Operation of the Bd and Cd bits
The Cd bit determines whether data being read must be placed in the DCache and used
for subsequent reads. Typically, main memory is marked as cachable to reduce memory
access time and therefore increase system performance. It is usual to mark input/output
space as noncachable. For example, if a processor is polling a memory-mapped register
in input/output space, it is important that the processor is forced to read data direct from
the peripheral, and not a copy of initial data held in the DCache.
The Bd and Cd bits affect writes that both hit and miss in the DCache. If the Bd and Cd
bits are both 1, the area of memory is marked as write back, and stores that hit in the
DCache only update the cache, not external memory. If the Bd bit is 0 and the Cd bit is
1, the area of memory is marked as write through, and stores that hit in the DCache
update both the cache and external memory.
3.3.3
DCache operation
When the DCache is enabled, it is searched when the processor performs a load or store.
If the cache hits on a load, data is returned to the cache if the Cd bit is 1. If the cache
read misses, the Cd bit is examined. The meaning of the values of the Cd bit are shown
in Table 3-2
.
Stores that hit in the cache update the cache line if the Cd bit is 1. Stores that miss the
cache use the Cd and Bd bits to determine whether the write is buffered. A write miss
is not loaded into the cache as a result of that miss.
Load and store multiples are broken up on 4KB boundaries (the minimum protection
region size), allowing a protection check to be performed in case the Load Multiple
(
LDM
) or Store Multiple (
STM
) crosses into a region with different protection properties.
Table 3-2 Meaning of Cd bit values
Cd bit value
Meaning
1
Cachable data area and protection unit enabled. A linefill of eight words is
performed and the data is written into a randomly chosen segment of the
DCache.
0
A single or multiple external access is performed and the cache is not
updated.
Summary of Contents for ARM946E-S
Page 1: ...ARM DDI 0155A ARM946E S Technical Reference Manual ...
Page 6: ...vi Copyright ARM Limited 2000 All rights reserved ARM DDI 0155A 04 Limited Confidential ...
Page 54: ...Programmer s Model 2 34 Copyright ARM Limited 2000 All rights reserved ARM DDI 0155A ...
Page 70: ...Caches 3 16 Copyright ARM Limited 2000 All rights reserved ARM DDI 0155A ...
Page 78: ...Protection Unit 4 8 Copyright ARM Limited 2000 All rights reserved ARM DDI 0155A ...
Page 112: ...Coprocessor Interface 7 14 Copyright ARM Limited 2000 All rights reserved ARM DDI 0155A ...