Virtual Memory Management

A memory management unit for managing access to a physical memory formed of n memory page frames using a set of virtual address spaces, said set comprising n virtual address spaces each formed of a plurality p of contiguous memory pages, the memory management unit comprising:

• a storage unit for storing a virtual memory table having n by p entries specifying mappings between memory pages of the virtual address spaces and memory page frames of the physical memory;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• receive a write request to write a block of data to a virtual address within a virtual address space i of the n virtual address spaces, the virtual address defined by the virtual address space i, a memory page j within that virtual address space i and an offset from the start of that memory page j,
• translate the virtual address to an address of the physical memory using the virtual memory address table, wherein the physical memory address is defined by:
• (i) the memory page frame mapped to the memory page j as specified by the virtual memory table, and (ii) the offset of the virtual address, and
• write the block of data to the physical memory address.

An integrated circuit manufacturing system comprising:

• a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer readable dataset description of a memory management unit for managing access to a physical memory formed of n memory page frames using a set of virtual address spaces, said set comprising n virtual address spaces each formed of a plurality p of contiguous memory pages, the memory management unit comprising:
• a storage unit for storing a virtual memory table having n by p entries specifying mappings between memory pages of the virtual address spaces and memory page frames of the physical memory;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• receive a write request to write a block of data to a virtual address within a virtual address space i of the n virtual address spaces, the virtual address defined by the virtual address space i, a memory page j within that virtual address space i and an offset from the start of that memory page j;
• translate the virtual address to an address of the physical memory using the virtual memory address table, wherein the physical memory address is defined by:
• (i) the memory page frame mapped to the memory page j as specified by the virtual memory table, and (ii) the offset of the virtual address;
• and
• write the block of data to the physical memory address;
• a layout processing system configured to process the computer readable dataset description so as to generate a circuit layout description of an integrated circuit embodying the memory management unit;
• and
• an integrated circuit generation system configured to manufacture the memory management unit according to the circuit layout description.