Hardware-based translation lookaside buffer (TLB) invalidation techniques are disclosed. A host system is configured to exchange data with a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) endpoint (EP). A memory management unit (MMU), which is a hardware element, is included in the host system to provide address translation according to at least one TLB. In one aspect, the MMU is configured to invalidate the at least one TLB in response to receiving at least one TLB invalidation command from the PCIe EP. In another aspect, the PCIe EP is configured to determine that the at least one TLB needs to be invalidated and provide the TLB invalidation command to invalidate the at least one TLB. By implementing hardware-based TLB invalidation in the host system, it is possible to reduce TLB invalidation delay, thus leading to increased data throughput, reduced power consumption, and improved user experience.

Methods and systems are disclosed for full-hardware management of power and clock domains related to a distributed virtual memory (DVM) network. An aspect includes transmitting, from a DVM initiator to a DVM network, a DVM operation, broadcasting, by the DVM network to a plurality of DVM targets, the DVM operation, and, based on the DVM operation being broadcasted to the plurality of DVM targets by the DVM network, performing one or more hardware optimizations comprising: turning on a clock domain coupled to the DVM network or a DVM target of the plurality of DVM targets that is a target of the DVM operation, increasing a frequency of the clock domain, turning on a power domain coupled to the DVM target based on the power domain being turned off, or terminating the DVM operation to the DVM target based on the DVM target being turned off.

Managing translation invalidation includes: in response to determining that a first invalidation message (IM) applies to a subset of virtual addresses (VAs) consisting of fewer than all VAs associated with a first set of translation context (TC) values, searching VA-indexed structure(s) to find and invalidate any entries that correspond to a VA in the subset; in response to determining that a second IM applies to all VAs associated with a second set of TC values and that no entry exists in invalidation-tracking structure(s) corresponding to the second set, bypassing searching any VA-indexed structure(s); and in response to determining that a third IM applies to all VAs associated with a third set of TC values and that at least one entry exists in the invalidation-tracking structure(s) corresponding to the third set, storing invalidation information in the invalidation-tracking structure(s) to invalidate the third set and delaying searching any VA-indexed structure(s).

The described embodiments include a computing device with two or more translation lookaside buffers (TLB). During operation, the computing device updates an entry in the TLB based on a virtual address to physical address translation and metadata from a page table entry that were acquired during a page table walk. The computing device then computes, based on a lease length expression, a lease length for the entry in the TLB. Next, the computing device sets, for the entry in the TLB, a lease value to the lease length, wherein the lease value represents a time until a lease for the entry in the TLB expires, wherein the entry in the TLB is invalid when the associated lease has expired. The computing device then uses the lease value to control operations that are allowed to be performed using information from the entry in the TLB.

Methods, devices, and systems for virtual address translation. A memory management unit (MMU) receives a request to translate a virtual memory address to a physical memory address and searching a translation lookaside buffer (TLB) for a translation to the physical memory address based on the virtual memory address. If the translation is not found in the TLB, the MMU searches an external memory translation lookaside buffer (EMTLB) for the physical memory address and performs a page table walk, using a page table walker (PTW), to retrieve the translation. If the translation is found in the EMTLB, the MMU aborts the page table walk and returns the physical memory address. If the translation is not found in the TLB and not found in the EMTLB, the MMU returns the physical memory address based on the page table walk.

A method includes identifying, by a processor, a first page table entry (PTE) of a page table for translating virtual addresses to main storage addresses, the page table comprising a second page table entry contiguous with the second page table entry, determining with the processor whether the first PTE may be joined with the second PTE, the determining based on the respective pages of main storage being contiguous, and setting a marker in the page table for indicating that the main storage pages of identified by the first PTE and second PTEs are contiguous.

Provided are methods and systems for managing memory using a hardware-based page filter designed to distinguish between active and inactive pages (“hot” and “cold” pages, respectively) so that inactive pages can be compressed prior to the occurrence of a page fault. The methods and systems are designed to achieve, among other things, lower cost, longer battery life, and faster user response. Whereas existing approaches for memory management are based on pixel or frame buffer compression, the methods and systems provided focus on the CPU's program (e.g., generic data structure). Focusing on hardware-accelerated memory compression to offload CPU translates higher power efficiency (e.g., ASIC is approximately 100× lower power than CPU) and higher performance (e.g., ASIC is approximately 10× faster than CPU), and also allows for hardware-assisted memory management to offload OS/kernel, which significantly increases response time.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a method includes switching between a first address space and a second address space, determining if the second address space exists in a list of address spaces; and maintaining entries of the first address space in a translation buffer after the switching. In such manner, overhead associated with such a context switch may be reduced.

A method of way prediction for a data cache having a plurality of ways is provided. Responsive to an instruction to access a stack data block, the method accesses identifying information associated with a plurality of most recently accessed ways of a data cache to determine whether the stack data block resides in one of the plurality of most recently accessed ways of the data cache, wherein the identifying information is accessed from a subset of an array of identifying information corresponding to the plurality of most recently accessed ways; and when the stack data block resides in one of the plurality of most recently accessed ways of the data cache, the method accesses the stack data block from the data cache.

Translation lookaside buffer (TLB) invalidation using virtual addresses is provided. A cache is searched for a virtual address matching the input virtual address. Based on a matching virtual address in the cache, the corresponding cache entry is invalidated. The load/store queue is searched for a set and a way corresponding to the set and the way of the invalidated cache entry. Based on an entry in the load/store queue matching the set and the way of the invalidated cache entry, the entry in the load/store queue is marked as pending. Indicating a completion of the TLB invalidate instruction is delayed until all pending entries in the load/store queues are complete.