Importance

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Abstract

A cache system in accordance with the present invention consists of one or more cache components and a set of one or more consistency-replacement functions. A cache component caches one or more items in its one or more cache entries. Items that hit in the cache can result in corresponding cache entries being read or written. Any valid entry in a cache component includes status information reflecting whether the entry has been accessed and whether it has been modified, and is linked to a consistency-action matrix that, in correspondence with the entry's status information and access type (i.e. read or write), determines what consistency action has to be executed in conjunction with the current entry access. consistency actions and the consistency-action matrix are the inventive mechanisms for implementing cache-coherency and cache-replacement policies. Any valid entry in a cache is linked to a consistency-replacement function that implements one or more consistency and/or replacement policies. Consistency-replacement functions are application-specific and are implemented by means of the consistency-action matrix.

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First Claim