Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for simulating banked memory as a linear address space

US5734858A · kind A · utility

17Cited by
4References
32Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 24, 1994
Grant dateMar 31, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 24, 2014

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F12/1081
  • WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing access to a banked peripheral memory via a contiguous linear address space. The present invention provides a linear address space having a present region that is mapped to a host memory region of a computer system. The present invention further provides a relocatable selector that provides access to a portion of the linear address space. Accessing programs exchange data with the banked peripheral memory via the relocatable linear address space. When an accessing program references an address of the relocatable address base that is not mapped to the present region, the relocatable linear address space is positioned so that the referenced address maps to the present region. Additionally, a bank of the peripheral memory that corresponds to the referenced address is also mapped into the host memory region so as to enable the accessing program to exchange data with the banked peripheral memory via the relocatable linear address space.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.