Memory sharing and page deduplication using indirect lines

摘要

Memory management includes maintaining a plurality of physical pages corresponding to a respective plurality of indirect lines, where each of the plurality of indirect lines corresponds to a set of one or more data lines. Memory management further includes receiving a request to create a new physical page; determining whether there is an existing physical page that has matching content to the new physical page; and in the event that there is an existing physical page that has matching content as the new physical page, associating the new physical page with the same data lines as those corresponding to the matching content referenced by the indirect line associated with the existing physical page.

主权项

1. A memory system comprising:
a memory to maintain a plurality of physical pages that reference a respective plurality of indirect lines, wherein each of the plurality of indirect lines corresponds to a set of one or more data lines, and wherein a data line in the set of one or more data lines is distinct from any of the plurality of physical pages; and a memory module coupled to the memory, to:
in response to a request to create a new physical page:
determine whether there is an existing physical page that has matching content as the new physical page, wherein the new physical page is distinct from any indirect line and is distinct from any data line, and the existing physical page is distinct from any indirect line and is distinct from any data line; andin the event that there is an existing physical page that has matching content as the new physical page, associate the new physical page with the same data lines as those corresponding to the matching content referenced by at least one indirect line associated with the existing physical page, wherein the new physical page is associated with the same data lines by associating the new physical page with the same at least one indirect line associated with the existing physical page, and wherein:
the existing physical page, which is determined to have matching content as the new physical page, resides in a first memory space and references the at least one indirect line,the at least one indirect line resides in a second memory space that is separate from the first memory space, andthe at least one indirect line references a set of data lines storing the matching content.