Virtual memory management infrastructure for monitoring deltas and supporting undo versioning in a paged memory system

• US 20060161751A1
• Filed: 01/18/2005
• Published: 07/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Williamson, Paul Stuart, Brown, Michael Wayne, Barrs, John William
• Application Number:
  US11/037,000
• Publication Number:
  US 20060161751A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/170
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/08 in hierarchically structured memory systems, e.g. virtual memory systems

Abstract

An improved method, apparatus, and computer instructions for writing a page of data in response to receiving a request to write the page in the paged memory system. Creating a version of the page of data in response to receiving the request to write the page in the paged memory system, and associating a version identifier with the version of the page.

Claims

1. A method in a virtual memory manager for managing data in a paged memory system, the method comprising:

responsive to receiving a request to write a page of data in the paged memory system, writing the page;

responsive to receiving the request to write the page of data in the paged memory system, creating a version of the page; and

associating a version identifier with the version of the page.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the writing step comprises:

writing the page after creating the version of the page.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the writing step comprises:

writing the page prior to creating the version of the page.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the request is received from a requester and further comprising:

returning the version identifier to the requestor

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

responsive to receiving a subsequent request to retrieve a page into physical memory from a data store, determining whether the subsequent request includes a specific version identifier;

responsive to the subsequent request including the version identifier, locating a version of the page corresponding to the specific version identifier to form a prior page; and

placing the prior page into the physical memory.

6. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

responsive to the subsequent request excluding the version identifier, locating the page; and

placing the page into the physical memory.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the request is received from an operating system kernel.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the data store is a swap file.

9. A data processing system in a virtual memory manager for managing data in a paged memory system, the data processing system comprising:

writing means, responsive to receiving a request to write a page of data in the paged memory system, for writing the page;

creating means, responsive to receiving the request to write the page of data in the paged memory system, for creating a version of the page; and

associating means for associating a version identifier with the version of the page.

10. The data processing system of claim 9, wherein the writing means comprises:

means for writing the page after creating the version of the page.

11. The data processing system of claim 9, wherein the writing means comprises:

means for writing the page prior to creating the version of the page.

12. The data processing system of claim 9, wherein the request is received from a requester and further comprising:

returning means for returning the version identifier to the requester.

13. The data processing system of claim 9 further comprising:

determining means, responsive to receiving a subsequent request to retrieve a page into physical memory from a data store, for determining whether the subsequent request includes a specific version identifier;

locating means, responsive to the subsequent request including the version identifier, for locating a version of the page corresponding to the specific version identifier to form a prior page; and

placing means for placing the prior page into the physical memory.

14. The data processing system of claim 12 further comprising:

locating means, responsive to the subsequent request excluding the version identifier, for locating the page; and

placing means for placing the page into the physical memory.

15. The data processing system of claim 9, wherein the request is received from an operating system kernel.

16. The data processing system of claim 13, wherein the data store is a swap file.

17. A computer program product in a virtual memory manager for managing data in a paged memory system, the computer program product comprising:

first instructions, responsive to receiving a request to write a page of data in the paged memory system, for writing the page;

second instructions, responsive to receiving the request to write the page of data in the paged memory system, for creating the version of the page; and

third instructions for associating a version identifier with the version of the page.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the first instructions comprises:

sub instructions for writing the page after creating the version of the page.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the first instructions comprises:

sub instructions for writing the page prior to creating the version of the page.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the request is received from a requester and further comprising:

fourth instructions for returning the version identifier to the requester.

21. The computer program product of claim 17 further comprising:

fourth instructions, responsive to receiving a subsequent request to retrieve a page into physical memory from a data store, for determining whether the subsequent request includes a specific version identifier;

fifth instructions, responsive to the subsequent request including the version identifier, for locating a version of the page corresponding to the specific version identifier to form a prior page; and

sixth instructions for placing the prior page into the physical memory.

22. The computer program product of claim 20 further comprising:

fifth instructions, responsive to the subsequent request excluding the version identifier, for locating the page; and

sixth instructions for placing the page into the physical memory.

23. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the request is received from an operating system kernel.

24. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the data store is a swap file.