The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 09, 2000
Filed:
May. 23, 1997
Richard Thomas Witek, Austin, TX (US);
Compaq Computer Corporation, Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
Apparatus for supporting virtual address aliasing is disclosed in which addresses to a virtual cache are first intercepted. It is determined whether the these addresses are aliased, i.e., more than one virtual address exists for the same location in memory. If not aliased, the addresses are simply passed to the virtual cache. In the case where there is aliasing, however, dealiasing is performed. New addresses are generated and passed to the virtual cache so that the aliased addresses are directed to the same locations in the virtual cache. In this way, an operating system can be supported that uses virtual address aliasing since the CPU can transparently issue aliased virtual addresses. These addresses, however, are directed to the same locations in the virtual cache so that the addresses are not aliased from the perspective of the cache, thus avoiding the need for other hardware to compensate for the aliasing. The modification, however, does not substantially impact latency. The invention is most useful in situations in which the operating system merely requires the potential for aliasing between active processes.