Method and system for adding compressed page tables to an operating system

A system for allowing a single entity to manage memory comprising compressed and uncompressed data, said system comprising:

• a first table for specifying the physical location of uncompressed data stored in main memory;
• a second table for specifying the location of compressed data stored in said main memory;
• a compression and decompression engine coupled to said main memory;
• and
• a third table for specifying the location of data stored in virtual memory, wherein said single entity has control of the compression and decompression of data and where said data is stored.

A computer readable medium having stored thereon program instructions for implementing a method for managing memory comprising compressed data and uncompressed data, said method comprising the steps of:

• a) accessing a first table, which specifies the physical memory location of uncompressed data, to determine if specified data is in uncompressed memory;
• b) accessing a second table, which specifies the physical memory location of compressed data, to determine if said specified data is in compressed memory;
• and
• c) accessing said specified data, said program instructions having control of the compression and decompression of data and where said data is stored.