Translating virtual memory addresses to physical addresses

US10083124B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• International Business Machines Corporation · US

Inventors

• Uwe Brandt · Eppelheim, DE
• Markus Helms · Eppelheim, DE
• Christian Jacobi · West Park, US
• Markus Kaltenbach · Holzgerlingen, DE
• Thomas Koehler · Holzgerlingen, DE
• Frank Lehnert · Weil im Schönbuch, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 22, 2017
• Grant date: Sep 25, 2018
• Expiry date: Mar 22, 2037

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06F2212/681
• WIPO field: Computer technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A translation engine for a processor system to translate virtual memory addresses to physical addresses of a main memory of a computer system is provided, where a sequence of accesses to multiple address translation tables is performed to support a computer system virtualization level. The translation engine includes: a first pipeline having at least, a first pipeline stage to receive a value for an original address or an address translation table entry requested in a previous pass through the first pipeline; a second pipeline stage using the value as an operand in a translation operation eventually yielding the address translation result or yielding a table index to an entry in a next address translation table; and a third pipeline stage issuing a read request for the entry in the next address translation table.