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:
Sep. 24, 2002
Filed:
Mar. 20, 2000
R. Brett Tremaine, Stormville, NY (US);
Michael Wazlowski, New Fairfield, CT (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
In a processing system having a main memory wherein information is stored in a compressed format for the purpose of gaining additional storage through compression efficiencies and, wherein information stored within the main memory is indirectly accessible by a processor through an uncompressed information cache, an improved memory architecture, apparatus and method for detecting and recovering the main memory space used to store “stale” information associated with cache lines in the “modified” state, and returning the storage to an unused pool for use in storing other information. This improves the overall compression rate of the system, thus lessening the likelihood of encountering a “memory pressure” situation where the system runs low on unused memory.