Memory Management Unit (MMU) for Accessing Borrowed Memory

A system, comprising:

• a local memory;
• a memory bus coupled to the local memory;
• a network communication interface;
• and
• a memory management unit coupled to the memory bus and the network communication interface, the memory management unit comprising:
• a translation lookaside buffer having a virtual to physical memory map;
• and
• a logic circuit coupled to the translation lookaside buffer and configured to, in response to a virtual memory address, perform a memory access operation using the memory bus or the network communication interface in accordance with a physical memory address determined from the virtual memory address using the virtual to physical memory map;
• and
• wherein the system is configured to request a remote computing apparatus having a first random access memory to lend the first random access memory to the system;
• and
• wherein in response to the remote computing apparatus lending the first random access memory to the system, the logic circuit is configured to change from mapping between a first virtual memory region and the local memory accessible via the memory bus to mapping between the first virtual memory region and a remote memory within the first random access memory of the remote computing apparatus accessible via the network communication interface.

A method, comprising:

• storing, in a translation lookaside buffer of a device, a virtual to physical memory map;
• in response to a memory access request having a virtual memory address,
• translating, the virtual memory address into a physical memory address the translation lookaside buffer;
• and
• performing an memory access operation via a memory bus or a network communication interface in accordance with the physical memory address;
• requesting a remote computing apparatus to lend a first random access memory of the remote computing apparatus to the device;
• and
• changing, in response to the remote computing apparatus lending a remote memory with the first random access memory of the remote computing apparatus, from mapping between a first virtual memory region and a local memory accessible via the memory bus to mapping between the first virtual memory region and the remote memory accessible via the network communication interface.