Patent ID: 7895404

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving one or more signals indicating a memory access; reading a current address; determining if the current address is within a protected area of a memory map, the protected area defined by a base address, a limit address, and a non-zero offset; if the current address is within the protected area, setting an access flag; if the current address is not within the protected area, clearing the access flag; determining if the one or more signals indicate a fetch memory access; if the one or more signals indicate a fetch memory access and the access flag is set, setting a protected fetch flag; if the one or more signals indicate a fetch memory access and the access flag is cleared, clearing the protected fetch flag; determining if the one or more signals indicate a data memory access; and if the one or more signals indicate a data memory access: if the access flag is set, determining if the protected fetch flag is set or cleared; if the protected fetch flag is set, allowing the data memory access; and if the protected fetch flag is cleared, aborting the data memory access.