Microcontroller for memory management unit

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention includes a microcontroller coupled to a memory management unit (MMU). The MMU is coupled to a page table included in a physical memory, and the microcontroller is configured to perform one or more virtual memory operations associated with the physical memory and the page table. In operation, the microcontroller receives a page fault generated by the MMU in response to an invalid memory access via a virtual memory address. To remedy such a page fault, the microcontroller performs actions to map the virtual memory address to an appropriate location in the physical memory. By contrast, in prior-art systems, a fault handler would typically remedy the page fault. Advantageously, because the microcontroller executes these tasks locally with respect to the MMU and the physical memory, latency associated with remedying page faults may be decreased. Consequently, overall system performance may be increased.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.