Cache Accessed Using Virtual Addresses

摘要

A computer architecture provides a memory cache that is accessed not by physical addresses but by virtual addresses directly from running processes. Ambiguities that can result from multiple virtual addresses mapping to a single physical address are handled by dynamically tracking synonyms and connecting a limited number of virtual synonyms mapping to the same physical address to a single key virtual address that is used exclusively for cache access.

主权项

1. An electronic processor architecture for use with a memory having storage at physical addresses comprising:
a processor; a memory cache; a cache control circuit caching memory data of a physical address by virtual address; a translation circuit for translating between a virtual address from the processor and a physical address; and a synonym tracking circuit receiving a given virtual address from the processor for access to the cache and (1) determining if the given virtual address is a synonym with an other virtual address mapping to a same given physical memory address of data in the cache; and (2) when the given virtual memory address is a synonym, accessing the memory cache using the other virtual address as an accessing address for the memory cache.