VIRTUAL MEMORY PAGING SYSTEM AND TRANSLATION LOOKASIDE BUFFER WITH PAGELETS

Abstract

A page in a memory is sectioned into a plurality of pagelets (sub-pages) of sizes smaller than the page to speed up data transfers. The pagelets in the page are used to store, transport and process data, wherein individual pagelets are transferred between a memory and secondary storage in the system with smaller individual latencies than that of the page they comprise. Pagelets may be transferred in any order such that there is a reduction in the effective latency of the transfer of critical chunks of data as seen by an agent to increase overall performance. Pagelets of a page share one entry in a page table that also includes a virtual to physical translation. A pagelet translation lookaside buffer that handles pages having pagelets is used to cache frequently used translations and a critical pagelet determiner is used to indicate the critical pagelet involved in a transaction.

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