ARM r1p3 Computer Hardware User Manual


 
Level One Memory System
ARM DDI 0363E Copyright © 2009 ARM Limited. All rights reserved. 8-35
ID013010 Non-Confidential, Unrestricted Access
8.7 Memory types and L1 memory system behavior
The behavior of the L1 memory system depends on the type attribute of the memory that is being
accessed:
Only Normal, Non-shared memory can be cached in the RAMs.
The store buffer can merge any stores to Normal memory. See Store buffer on page 8-18
for more information.
Only Normal memory is considered restartable, that is, a multi-word transfer can be
abandoned part way through because of an interrupt, to be restarted after the interrupt has
been handled. See Interrupts on page 2-18 for more information about interrupt behavior.
Only the internal exclusive monitor is used for exclusive accesses to Non-shared memory.
Exclusive accesses to shared memory are checked using the internal monitor and also, if
necessary, any external monitor, using the L2 memory interface.
Accesses resulting from
SWP
and
SWPB
instructions to Cacheable memory are not marked
as locked when performed using the L2 memory interface.
Table 8-17 summarizes the processor memory types and associated behavior.
Table 8-17 Memory types and associated behavior
Memory type Cacheable Merging Restartable
Internal
exclusives
Locked
swaps
Normal Shared No Yes Yes Partially Yes
Non-shared Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Device Shared No No No Partially Yes
Non-shared No No No Yes Yes
Strongly Ordered Shared No No No Partially Yes