Patent ID: 7380089
Filing Date: 2008-05-27
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. In a computer system having an operating system (O/S) and a compressed main memory defining a physical memory and a real memory characterized as fixed amount of main memory as seen by a processor, and including a compressed memory hardware controller device for controlling processor access to said compressed main memory, a method for managing real memory usage comprising the steps of: receiving real memory usage information from said compressed memory hardware controller, said information including a characterization of said real memory usage state; executing application in non-O/S kernel mode as a background process at a real-time priority level for monitoring said memory usage and initiating memory allocation and memory recovery within an operating system memory space including freeing up of physical memory from the operating system by swapping out pages of memory associated with lower priority tasks when physical memory availability is below at least one memory usage state threshold, and, the recovery of physical memory to the operating system such that there always is enough physical memory in which to include application and O/S data; and, adjusting said memory usage thresholds for controlling memory state changes, whereby control of said real memory usage in said computer system is accomplished without modification to an operating system kernel and transparent to said operating system.