Apparatus and method for providing simultaneous local and global addressing using software to distinguish between local and global addresses
US6574721B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 31, 1999 |
| Grant date | Jun 3, 2003 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 31, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F12/1036
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An apparatus and method provide simultaneous local and global addressing capabilities in a computer system. A global address space is defined that may be accessed by all processes. In addition, each process has a local address space that is local (and therefore available) only to that process. An address space processor is implemented in software to perform system functions that distinguish between local addresses and global addresses. In the preferred embodiments, the local address space has a size that is a multiple of the size of a segment of global address space. When the hardware indicates a page fault, the address space processor determines whether the address being translated is a local address or a global address. If the address is a local address, the address space processor uses a local directory to process the page fault. If the address is a global address, the address space processor uses a global directory to process the page fault. When the hardware indicates an addressing error because a computed address crosses a global segment boundary, the address space processor determines whether the address is a local address or a global address. If the address is a global addr…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.