Apparatus and method for directly accessing compressed data utilizing a compressed memory address translation unit and compression descriptor table
First Claim
1. An apparatus for executing directly compressed data, the apparatus comprising:
- an execution unit for processing data;
an address generation unit operably connected to the execution unit for generating a logical address corresponding to the data; and
a compressed memory address translation unit operably connected to the address translation unit to map the logical address to a linear address corresponding to a physical address at which the data is stored as compressed data;
a memory device to store the compressed data to which the physical address corresponds, wherein the memory device further contains a compression descriptor table comprising memory descriptors, each relating a unique logical address range, corresponding to a portion of a logical address space, to a physical address range in the memory device; and
wherein the execution unit is programmed to access and execute on the compressed data directly from the physical address thereof.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for directly accessing data compressed by a dictionary-based compression scheme are disclosed. The apparatus may include an execution unit for processing data and an address generation unit connected to the execution unit for generating a logical address corresponding to the data. A compressed memory address translation unit operably connected to the address generation unit maps the logical address to a linear address corresponding to a physical address at which the data is stored as compressed data. The compressed memory address translation unit may include comparison elements. Each comparison element is adapted to determine whether an input address is within an address range associated therewith. Each comparison element may further include a map logic circuit for computing the linear address as an offset and a base linear address. One single comparison element uniquely provides the linear address to be output by the compressed memory address translation unit. A memory device may store a compression descriptor table comprising memory descriptors. The compression descriptor table may comprise both local and global tables mapping logical address ranges to physical address ranges within the memory device, with each descriptor including a logical address, a length, and a linear address. Each descriptor relates a unique logical address range (corresponding to a portion of a logical address space), to a physical address range (corresponding to space in the memory device).
91 Citations
21 Claims
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1. An apparatus for executing directly compressed data, the apparatus comprising:
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an execution unit for processing data; an address generation unit operably connected to the execution unit for generating a logical address corresponding to the data; and a compressed memory address translation unit operably connected to the address translation unit to map the logical address to a linear address corresponding to a physical address at which the data is stored as compressed data; a memory device to store the compressed data to which the physical address corresponds, wherein the memory device further contains a compression descriptor table comprising memory descriptors, each relating a unique logical address range, corresponding to a portion of a logical address space, to a physical address range in the memory device; and wherein the execution unit is programmed to access and execute on the compressed data directly from the physical address thereof. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A computer readable memory device comprising a storage medium having data structures supporting direct access to compressed data by a processor operably connected to a memory device, the memory device comprising:
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a memory element storing compressed data, compressed by a dictionary-based compression; a memory element storing a compression descriptor table relating logical address ranges associated with a logical address space to physical address ranges within the memory device; and a memory element storing an executable, executable by the processor to initialize a compressed memory address translation unit in the processor for directly executing the compressed data. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method for directly accessing, by a processor, compressed data in a memory device, the method comprising:
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storing compressed data, compressed by dictionary-based compression, at a physical address, the compressed data corresponding to original data; relating, by use of a compression descriptor table, a logical address space to a physical address space in a memory device; computing a logical address; mapping the logical address to the physical address using the compression descriptor table; and executing the original data at the physical address. - View Dependent Claims (21)
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Specification