Lazy Patching Manual Memory Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Manual memory management often leads to system crashes and security vulnerabilities due to dangling pointers, while garbage collection ensures memory safety but can become a bottleneck with many cores and large data sets.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a method of safe manual memory management that involves eager relocation of objects when fragmentation exceeds a threshold and lazy patching of references, using metadata to update references when they are used, reducing access violations and memory corruption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If manual memory management is used, then performance is improved, but memory safety deteriorates due to dangling pointers and access violations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism (lazy patching system with mapping data) that sits between the manual memory management operations and the actual memory accesses. When objects are relocated, the system creates mapping entries that intercept subsequent accesses to the old locations and redirect them to the new locations, thereby maintaining safety without sacrificing performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-establishing mapping data before actual memory access violations occur. When an object is relocated, the mapping entry is created in advance, so that subsequent accesses automatically benefit from the redirection without causing access violations or requiring emergency intervention.
2Reliability
If garbage collection is used, then memory safety is improved, but performance deteriorates due to overhead with many cores and large data sets
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of applying a global garbage collection mechanism to the entire heap, the patent applies local quality by implementing selective tracking and lazy patching only for relocated objects. The mapping data structure allows the system to focus safety efforts on specific objects that have been moved, rather than requiring comprehensive garbage collection of all memory.
Solution Approach 2:
The lazy patching mechanism provides self-service by automatically handling the safety concerns of relocated objects without requiring external garbage collection intervention. The mapping data structure autonomously redirects accesses and manages the safety of relocated objects, eliminating the need for performance-heavy garbage collection cycles.
3Stability of the object's composition
If eager relocation of objects is performed, then memory fragmentation is reduced, but access violations increase due to invalid references
Solution Approach 1:
The mapping data structure serves as an intermediary that resolves the conflict between eager relocation and access safety. When objects are eagerly relocated to reduce fragmentation, the mapping entries capture the old-to-new location relationships, allowing the system to maintain both fragmentation reduction and access safety simultaneously.
4Reliability
If lazy patching of references is implemented, then access violations are reduced, but device complexity increases due to mapping data management
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by transforming the complex problem of reference validation into a simpler parameter-based lookup problem. The mapping data structure changes the approach from complex runtime validation logic to simple parameter-based address translation, reducing the operational complexity despite the added data structure.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of manual memory management is described. In response to detecting an access violation triggered by the use of an invalid reference to an object in a manual heap, a source of the access in a register or stack is identified. An updated reference for the object using stored mapping data is determined and used to replace the invalid reference in the source.