Method and system for decreasing power consumption in memory arrays having usage-driven power management

摘要

A method and system for decreasing power consumption in memory arrays having usage-driven power management provides decreased power consumption in the memory array of a processing system. Per-page usage information is gathered on memory by a memory controller and periodically evaluated by software. The software distinguishes between more frequently accessed pages and less frequently accessed pages by analyzing the gathered usage information and periodically migrates physical memory pages in order to group less frequently accessed pages and more frequently access pages in separately power-managed memory ranks. When used in conjunction with a usage-driven power management mechanism, the ranks containing the less frequently accessed pages can enter deeper power-saving states and/or any power-saving state for longer periods. Operation may be further enhanced by using packed allocation in the memory ranks containing the less-frequently accessed pages and scattered allocation in the memory ranks having more frequently accessed pages.