Patent ID: 7287140

Claim:
A method of protecting contents of a computer memory used in a computer having a central processing unit (CPU) in communication with one or more address registers, the method comprising: selecting a range of memory addresses within the computer memory; and generating one or more protection domains, the one or more protection domains comprising an association of each word in the range of memory addresses with a respective metadata value, wherein a selected word in the range of memory addresses is associated with a first metadata value and words adjacent to the selected word are associated with second and third metadata values respectively, wherein each one of the metadata values comprises a respective permission value, wherein generating the one or more protection domains comprises: providing a permissions table; and storing to the permissions table the one or more protection domains, wherein each one of the one or more protection domains is associated with the range of memory addresses, wherein each one of the one or more protection domains has a respective one or more segments, each one of the one or more segments forming a portion of the range of memory addresses, wherein each one of the one or more segments is associated with a respective one of the metadata values.