Multiple page size address translation incorporating page size prediction
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsJeffrey Bradford, Jason Dale, Kimberly Fernsler, Timothy Heil, James Rose
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Abstract
Page size prediction is used to predict a page size for a page of memory being accessed by a memory access instruction such that the predicted page size can be used to access an address translation data structure. By doing so, an address translation data structure may support multiple page sizes in an efficient manner and with little additional circuitry disposed in the critical path for address translation, thereby increasing performance.
Claims29
A method of performing address translation for a memory access instruction, the method comprising:
- predicting a page size for a page of memory being accessed by a memory access instruction;
- and
- translating a first address associated with the memory access instruction to a second address by accessing an address translation data structure using the predicted page size.
A circuit arrangement, comprising:
- an address translation data structure configured to translate an address associated with a memory access instruction, the address translation data structure supporting multiple page sizes;
- and
- page size prediction logic configured to generate a predicted page size for a page of memory being accessed by the memory access instruction, wherein the predicted page size is used in accessing the address translation data structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.