Patent attributes
A data processing system comprising a plurality of processing units that are configurable as different partitions of processing units. The system comprises a multicast communication network for routing cache communications within a partition of processing unit. A cache controller of one of the processing units within a partition is configurable as a master cache controller for a set of caches within the partition. The master cache controller is operable to issue requests over the multicast communication network to all of the caches in the set of caches at the same time. The multicast communication network is configured to combine response signals from the different processing units within the partition to provide a combined response signal to the master cache controller that represents an overall request-response status for the caches to which the request was issued.
