Memory Management Unit that Applies Rules Based on Privilege Identifier
AssigneeTexas Instruments Incorporated
InventorsJoseph R. M. Zbiciak, Amitabh Menon
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Abstract
A memory management and protection system that manages memory access requests from a number of requestors. Memory accesses are allowed or disallowed based on the privilege level of the master, usually a CPU originating the request based on a Privilege Identifier that accompanies each memory access request. Deputy masters such as DMA controllers inherit the Privilege Identifier of the originating master. An extended memory controller selects the appropriate set of segment registers based on the Privilege Identifier to insure that the request is compared to and translated by the segment register associated with the master originating the request.
Claims6
A memory management system comprising:
- a memory organized as a plurality of memory segments addressable within the logical address space of the memory,
- an extended memory controller operable to control the access to the memory by requests originated by a plurality of requestors based on the privilege identifier (PRIVID) accompanying each request for access,
- a plurality of segment registers within the extended memory controller operable to define the access permissions of the memory segments.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.