MESI State

Modified, Exclusive, Shared, Invalid

In the​ invalid state​ that means the processor does not have a copy of the line, any access to that
requires that the shared-memory system send a request message to the memory that contains
The line to get a copy of the line.

In the ​shared state​ that means that the processor has a copy of the line and other processors
also have a copy of the line. The processor may read from the line but if it writes to it all the
Other copies of the line will be invalidated.

If a line is in the ​exclusive state​, the processor is the only one that has a copy of the line, but it
has not written to the line since it got the copy.

The ​modified state​ means that the processor is the only one that has a copy of the line, and it
has written to the line since it has acquired the copy.

MESI distinguishes between the exclusive and modified state so that the system can figure out
where the most recent value of the line is stored. If a line is exclusive in a processors cache ie
not written to then the copy of that line in the main memory is up to date and the processor can
discard the line if it needs to invalidate the line. If the line is modified then the processor has the
most recent value of the line and it must write the line back to the main memory when it is
Invalidated.

Bus shared memory systems means the processors can communicate with each other because
each processor can in the system can observe the state of the memory bus this is called cache
snooping because all of the caches spy on the actions of other processors. So memory
references can actually be completed faster if some other processor has a copy of the required
line than if the line has to be read from the main memory.