Patent · US Expired

System, apparatus and method for reclaiming memory holes in memory composed of identically-sized memory devices

US7287145B1 · kind B1 · utility

4Cited by
7References
21Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 13, 2004
Grant dateOct 23, 2007
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 3, 2025

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F12/06
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A system, apparatus, and method are disclosed for increasing the physical memory size accessible to a processor, at least in part, by reclaiming physical address space typically associated with addresses of a restricted linear address space (i.e., addresses that are otherwise unusable by the processor as system memory). In one embodiment, an exemplary memory controller redirects a linear address associated with a range of addresses to access a reclaimed memory hole. The memory controller includes an address translator configured to determine an amount of restricted addresses and to establish a baseline address identified as a first number being a first integer power of 2. The range of addresses can be located at another address identified as a second number being a second integer power of 2. As such, the address translator translates the linear address into a translated address associated with the reclaimed memory hole based on the baseline address.

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