Patent ID: 7634708

Claim:
A method of integrating storage protection (SP) key data for protecting memory with the memory data it protects, comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of like physical storage segments for storing both the memory data and the storage protection (SP) key data in a main memory storage of a memory subsystem, each said physical storage segment capable of storing any one of: (a) SP key data including a plurality of storage protection keys; and (b) memory data protected by a respective said storage protection key; assigning absolute addresses to the SP key data; and providing a changeable physical SP Key region in a subset of said plurality of like physical storage segments by using physical addresses mapped from the absolute addresses so that the physical addresses of SP key data can be changed with main memory storage reconfigurations, said subset containing at least some and fewer than all said plurality of like physical storage segments, each segment of said subset for storing SP key data including a plurality of storage protection keys, each storage protection key protecting respective memory data in a respective physical storage segment of said plurality of physical storage segments not contained in said subset, wherein each of a plurality of said physical storage segments not contained in said subset is for storing respective said memory data protected by a respective said storage protection key.