Patent ID: 7623134

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for using a virtual address to locate a page of data stored in a system that includes a central processing unit, a system memory coupled to the central processing unit, and a local memory coupled to a special purpose processing unit, the method comprising: performing a first page lookup operation to determine whether the virtual address associated with the page of data has a corresponding physical address in the local memory; generating a first page fault report, if the virtual address does not have a corresponding physical address in the local memory, wherein the first page fault report is not handled by the central processing unit; performing a second page lookup operation to determine whether the virtual address associated with the page of data has a corresponding physical address in the system memory in response to the first page fault report; and either generating a second page fault report to be handled by the central processing unit, if the virtual address does not have a corresponding physical address in the system memory, or accessing the page of data without involving the central processing unit, if the page of data is found the system memory.