TLB Maintenance Using Process-Specific Physical CPU Ranges

The patent segments the physical CPU range into a manageable subset based on process affinity. Instead of maintaining TLB consistency across all physical CPUs in the system, the invention identifies and maintains consistency only for the specific range of physical CPUs currently executing threads of the modifying process. This segmentation is achieved through process affinity tracking and physical CPU range determination, which narrows the scope of TLB shootdown operations to only affected CPUs, thereby reducing maintenance delay while ensuring consistency where needed.

The patent applies local quality by tailoring the TLB consistency maintenance scope to the specific local context of process execution. Rather than applying uniform TLB shootdown across the entire system, the invention identifies the local physical CPU range where the modifying process is actually executing and maintains consistency only in that localized range. This is achieved through tracking which physical CPUs have active threads of the modifying process, thereby ensuring TLB correctness for affected areas while leaving other areas unaffected and operational.

The patent implements self-service by leveraging existing process affinity tracking mechanisms and physical CPU range management that are already part of the operating system's process scheduling infrastructure. The invention reuses these existing self-service mechanisms to determine which physical CPUs should receive TLB shootdown notifications, avoiding the need for separate complex tracking systems. This approach allows the system to automatically identify affected CPUs based on process execution state without requiring additional complex management overhead.