Method, apparatus and article of manufacture for mapping physical memory in a virtual address system

A computer program embodied on a computer readable medium for minimizing a number of look-ups in a page table entry data structure during mapping of a virtual address to a physical address, comprising:

• (a) a code segment for accessing a virtual address in a page table entry data structure of a processing unit;
• (b) a code segment for determining whether the virtual address in the page table entry data structure has two or more contiguous physical addresses;
• and
• (c) a code segment for retrieving information from the page table entry data structure for minimizing a number of look-ups in the page table entry data structure, if it is determined that the virtual address in the page table entry data structure has two or more contiguous physical addresses.

An apparatus for minimizing a number of look-ups in a page table entry data structure during mapping of a virtual address to a physical address, comprising:

• (a) logic for accessing a virtual address in a page table entry data structure of a processing unit;
• (b) logic for determining whether the virtual address in the page table entry data structure has two or more contiguous physical addresses;
• and
• (c) logic for retrieving information from the page table entry data structure for minimizing a number of look-ups in the page table entry data structure, if it is determined that the virtual address in the page table entry data structure has two or more contiguous physical addresses.

A method for minimizing a number of look-ups in a page table entry data structure during mapping of a virtual address to a physical address, comprising the acts of:

• (a) accessing a virtual address in a page table entry data structure of a processing unit;
• (b) determining whether the virtual address in the page table entry data structure has two or more contiguous physical addresses;
• and
• (c) retrieving information relating to a virtual address range and a physical address range from the page table entry data structure.

A computer program embodied on a computer readable medium for minimizing a number of look-ups in a page table entry data structure during mapping to a virtual address to a physical address, comprising:

• (a) a code segment for accessing a virtual address in a page table entry data structure of a processing unit;
• (b) a code segment for determining whether the virtual address in the page table entry data structure has two or more contiguous physical addresses;
• and
• (c) a code segment for retrieving information relating to a virtual address range and a physical address range from the page table entry data structure.

An apparatus for minimizing a number of look-ups in a page table entry data structure during mapping of a virtual address to a physical address, comprising:

• (a) logic for accessing a virtual address in a page table entry data structure of a processing unit;
• (b) logic for determining whether the virtual address in the page table entry data structure has two or more contiguous physical addresses;
• and
• (c) logic for retrieving information relating to a virtual address range and a physical address range from the page table entry data structure.