Page Merging Method for Electronic Device Memory Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing memory deduplication techniques, such as KSM, consume excessive resources and battery power due to high computation requirements for determining whether to merge pages, making it inefficient for electronic devices like mobile terminals to manage memory effectively.
Innovation Solution
An electronic device implements a page merging method that initializes pages with a specific value and determines whether to merge them based on this value, reducing computational overhead by mapping identical content data to a single physical page, thereby efficiently managing memory without frequent scanning.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If memory deduplication technique scans all pages to determine whether to merge pages, then memory management effectiveness is improved, but computation amount and resource consumption increase excessively
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the memory management process into two distinct phases: a first pass that identifies and merges pages with identical initialization values (Zeros or Ones), and a second pass that handles remaining pages. This segmentation reduces the overall computation by resolving the most common duplication cases in the first pass without requiring exhaustive comparison of all page combinations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary identification and merging of pages with identical initialization values before proceeding to more complex deduplication tasks. By initializing pages with specific values (Zeros or Ones) and identifying duplicates based on these initial states, the system prepares the memory structure in advance, making subsequent deduplication operations more efficient and reducing the total computation required.
2Quantity of substance
If memory deduplication technique merges all duplicate pages, then available memory increases, but computation overhead becomes excessive for mobile terminals
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by performing deduplication in two stages rather than attempting to merge all duplicate pages in a single exhaustive process. The first pass handles pages with identical initialization values (a partial set of all possible duplicates), achieving significant memory consolidation without the computational burden of comparing all pages against each other. This partial approach is sufficient for mobile terminals while still substantially increasing available memory.
3Reliability
If page merging determines whether to merge for all memory pages, then memory consolidation is thorough, but battery power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the memory pages into different groups based on their initialization values (Zeros, Ones, and other values). Pages with identical initialization values are processed together in the first pass, reducing the need for individual page comparisons. This segmentation maintains thorough consolidation for each group while significantly reducing overall computational energy consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary classification of pages based on their initialization values before the merging process. By pre-identifying pages with identical initialization states, the system avoids performing expensive comparison operations during the merging phase, thereby maintaining thorough consolidation while reducing battery power consumption during the deduplication process.
Data Source
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AI summary
Provided are an electronic device and a page merging method therefor. The electronic device may include: a memory manager that initializes pages and determines a page as a target to be merged if the page is initialized to a preset specific value; and a memory for merging multiple pages determined as a target to be merged and storing the merged page. The electronic device can determine whether to merge pages with a small amount of computation and merge the pages according to the determination result. Hence, the electronic device can manage the memory in an efficient manner.