Transparent hardware-assisted memory decompression
US9864541B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 12, 2016 |
| Grant date | Jan 9, 2018 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 12, 2036 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY02D10/00
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Provided are methods and systems for memory decompression using a hardware decompressor that minimizes or eliminates the involvement of software. Custom decompression hardware is added to the memory subsystem, where the decompression hardware handles read accesses caused by, for example, cache misses or requests from devices to compressed memory blocks, by reading a compressed block, decompressing it into an internal buffer, and returning the requested portion of the block. The custom hardware is designed to determine if the block is compressed, and determine the parameters of compression, by checking unused high bits of the physical address of the access. This allows compression to be implemented without additional metadata, because the necessary metadata can be stored in unused bits in the existing page table structures.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.