Patent ID: 6981120

Claim:
A method for managing memory segmentation in a virtual memory system, comprising: creating a range descriptor for managing segmentation using a page table, the page table being formed of page table entries that correspond to respective segments in virtual memory, the range descriptor containing an index value corresponding to a first free segment in virtual memory referenced by the page table; in the page table, encoding a reserved header page table entry to indicate that a segment in virtual memory is reserved, such that the page table has a respective reserved header page table entry preceding each page table entry corresponding to a segment that is an allocated segment or a free segment; in the page table, encoding a free header page table entry to indicate that a segment in virtual memory is free, such that the page table entry has a respective free header page table entry preceding each page table entry corresponding to a free segment; and managing address translation operations within the virtual memory system using the range descriptor, reserved header page table entries and free header page table entries such that allocation of additional virtual memory system data structures is avoided.