Distributed data cache with memory allocation model
US6453404B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 27, 1999 |
| Grant date | Sep 17, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 27, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F12/023
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A cache system allocates memory for storage of data items by defining a series of small blocks that are uniform in size. The system allocates one or more blocks from memory and assigns them for storage of a data item. If the data item exceeds the predetermined block size, more blocks are assigned for storage. If a residual portion of the data item less than the predetermined the block size remains, the operating system may allocate an additional small storage block to store the residual portion of the data item. The operating system allocates a large number of small blocks with a plurality of blocks having different sizes where a first plurality of blocks has one block size and a second plurality of blocks has a different block size. The large number of blocks allocated by the operating system avoid contention from multiple users requesting access to the data cache. The predetermined blocks are allocated by the data cache software itself and are not allocated by the operating system. In an exemplary embodiment, the blocks allocated by the data cache software need not be contiguous within the memory. Rather, each block contains a pointer to the start of the next block for a particul…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.