Method of addressing data in a shared memory by means of an offset

Abstract

This invention relates to a first method of referencing a first number for data (29) to be stored and a second method of referencing a first address for data to be retrieved. Said data is shared among a producer and a consumer. Said first method comprising the steps of computing said first number (24, offset) equalling p (25) minus Vaprod (26), wherein p is in the virtual address space of the producer, and Vaprod is in the virtual address space of the producer (20); and storing said first number as the address for said data in a scatter gather list. Optionally said first method comprises the step of storing (300) data at location p. Said second method comprises the steps of the retrieving (400) a second number from a scatter gather list, wherein said second number (24, offset) equals p (25) minus Vaprod (26), wherein p is in the virtual address space of the producer, and Vaprod is in the virtual address space of the producer; and computing (500) said first address (27, q) as a VAcons (28) plus said second number, wherein said VAcons is the consumer adress for the scatter gather list in the virtual address space of said consumer (21), and where said first address is in the virtual address space of said consumer. Optionally said second method comprises the step of retrieving (600) data, wherein said retrieved data is pointed to by said first address. Hereby the producer can communicate data to the consumer, even though the consumer has a different virtual address space than that of the producer when said methods are used in conjunction.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.