Patent ID: 7844793

Claim:
A system for managing real memory usage in a computer device having an operating system (O/S) and a compressed main memory defining a physical memory and a real memory characterized as a fixed amount of main memory as seen by a processor, and, a compressed memory hardware controller device for controlling processor access to said compressed main memory, said system comprising: a compressed memory device driver for receiving real memory usage information from said compressed memory hardware controller, said information including a characterization of at least one real memory usage state; a compression management means executing as an application in non-O/S kernel mode as a background process at a real-time priority level for monitoring said real memory usage information, and in response to receiving notification of a real memory usage state change one of initiating memory allocation or recovery within an operating system memory space including the 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 said 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, said compression management means including a mechanism for adjusting said memory usage thresholds for controlling memory usage 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.