METHOD OF ALLOCATING REFERENCED MEMORY PAGES FROM A FREE LIST

摘要

Memory pages that are allocated to a memory consumer and continue to be accessed by the memory consumer are included in a free list, so that they may be immediately allocated to another memory consumer as needed during the course of normal operation without preserving the original contents of the memory page. When a memory page in the free list is accessed to perform a read, a generation number associated with the memory page is compared with a stored copy. If the two match, the read is performed on the memory page. If the two do not match, the read is not performed on the memory page.

主权项

1. A system for performing a read on a memory page that is in a free list of memory pages, the system comprising:
a processing unit; system memory storing the free list of memory pages and instructions that, when executed by the central processing unit, cause the processing unit to:
perform a read on a memory page that is in the free list;retrieve after the read a current generation number associated with the memory page; anddetermine validity of data read from the memory page based on whether or not the current generation number retrieved after the read matches a stored copy of the generation number associated with the memory page.