Two-Level Paging Mechanism for Memory Compaction and Wear Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Electronic devices with limited volatile memory face challenges in efficiently transferring data from volatile to non-volatile memory to allocate memory resources effectively among competing applications, while minimizing wear on non-volatile storage.
Innovation Solution
A two-level paging mechanism is employed, where a first level compacts pages from reclaimable memory locations into a single container, and a second level uses optimal I/O operations to transfer these pages to non-volatile memory, allowing on-demand retrieval and reducing wear through minimal write operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If data is transferred from volatile memory to non-volatile memory to free up volatile memory space, then memory availability for other applications is improved, but wear on non-volatile storage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple scattered pages from different memory locations into a single contiguous container in volatile memory before transferring to non-volatile storage. This consolidation reduces the number of separate I/O operations needed, thereby reducing wear on non-volatile storage while freeing up volatile memory space.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by compacting and organizing pages into a container before the actual transfer to non-volatile memory. This pre-processing step optimizes the transfer operation, reducing the frequency and impact of write operations on non-volatile storage.
2Quantity of substance
If individual pages are transferred from volatile to non-volatile memory, then memory reclamation is achieved, but I/O operation overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple individual page transfer operations are merged into a single bulk transfer operation. By consolidating pages into a container first, the system reduces I/O overhead from multiple separate operations to one unified operation, achieving memory reclamation with reduced complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The container serves as an intermediary structure between volatile memory pages and non-volatile storage. This intermediate container allows efficient batch processing and simplifies the transfer mechanism, reducing I/O overhead compared to direct individual page transfers.
3Speed
If volatile memory is used for fast access, then application performance is improved, but memory capacity is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The memory system is segmented into two distinct layers: volatile memory for fast access to active data, and non-volatile memory for capacity extension. The paging mechanism intelligently segments data between these layers, maintaining fast access performance for frequently used data while extending total capacity through non-volatile storage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extends the memory hierarchy by adding a spatial dimension - using non-volatile memory as an extended address space. The two-level paging mechanism transparently manages this extended dimension, allowing applications to access data in non-volatile memory with the same interface as volatile memory, effectively increasing capacity without sacrificing access speed for active data.
Data Source
AI summary
A two-level paging mechanism. The first level gathers data from reclaimable memory locations for a process and compacts the data into a single container. The second level sends the compact container's contents to a swap file and may use optimal I/O operations to the target memory device. On-demand paging is made possible by having a first pager locate the requested data in the compact container and then having a second pager retrieve the corresponding data from the swap file.