Memory reclamation
First Claim
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1. A method for providing a configurable memory data width, comprising:
- determining a data width supported by a device;
determining a data width supported by a region of memory;
mapping data from the device to a first sub-region of the memory;
reclaiming an unused sub-region of memory and configuring it as a second sub-region of memory; and
mapping the second sub-region of memory as another parallel memory region.
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Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention provide for configurable memory bus width and memory reclamation. In particular, the memory controller is configured to use a width of memory that is less than that fully available such that back-to-back writes can occur, as opposed to read-modify-writes. Unused regions of memory (defined by the total available memory width subtracted by the managed memory width) are partially or fully reclaimed, thus increasing the effective memory size available to the user. The configuration methods accommodate multiple interface bus widths while maintaining bandwidth not previously possible.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for providing a configurable memory data width, comprising:
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determining a data width supported by a device;
determining a data width supported by a region of memory;
mapping data from the device to a first sub-region of the memory;
reclaiming an unused sub-region of memory and configuring it as a second sub-region of memory; and
mapping the second sub-region of memory as another parallel memory region. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7)
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2. The method claimed in claim 2, further comprising:
storing error correction data for data mapped in the first sub-region in parallel to the data in an error correction region of memory. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5)
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8. A machine readable medium having stored therein a plurality of machine readable instructions executable by a processor to provide a configurable memory data width, comprising:
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instructions to determine a data width supported by a device;
instructions to determine a data width supported by a region of memory;
instructions to map data from the device to a first sub-region of memory;
instructions to reclaim an unused sub-region of memory and configuring it as a second sub-region of memory; and
instructions to map the second sub-region of memory as another parallel memory region. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. An apparatus for providing a configurable memory data width, comprising:
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a device supporting a first data width;
a memory supporting a second data width; and
a controller in communication with the device and memory, wherein the controller maps data from the device to a first sub-region of the memory, reclaims an unused sub-region of memory, configures the unused sub-region of memory as a second sub-region of memory, and maps the second sub-region of memory as another memory region. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. The apparatus claimed in claim 25, wherein the controller configures a first sub-region of memory having a data width less than that fully available when the data width supported by the device differs from the data width supported by the region of memory, and maps data from the device to the configured first sub-region of the memory.
Specification