Reducing memory usage of kernel memory management structures
US8103849B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 24, 2009 |
| Grant date | Jan 24, 2012 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 17, 2030 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F12/023
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
One aspect of the present invention relates to techniques utilized within an operating system or a similar virtualization environment for reducing overhead of memory management data structures. Memory management data structures are used by operating systems to track the location of hardware pages in physical memory, consuming around 1% of a computer system's physical memory. However, these data structures may be classified as redundant when multiple data structures are used to track the same virtual memory pages stored within physical memory. One embodiment discloses an operation that identifies redundant data structures tracking frames of a single large page that are stored contiguously in the physical memory. Once identified, the redundant data structures may be removed from physical memory, freeing the physical memory for other uses. A further embodiment enables recreation of the removed data structures in physical memory if later accessed within the operating system.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.