Abstract:

An on-chip memory (scratch-pad memory, SPM) dynamic optimization approach (auto profile
and page swap, APPS) for Linux user process is explored to improve system performance and reduce power
consumption. The SPM page zone is added to the memory model of Linux kernel by a virtual memory system.
The dynamic allocation mechanism for the SPM page frame is implemented based on the SPM page zone.
The general interface function for the SPM page frame assignment is provided for other processes. Based on
optimization for user program including code, stack and BSS segment, the APPS scheme is introduced. This
method can automatically analyze the hot-spots of processes in kernel mode and transmit them to the SPM
zone by a dedicated DMA channel. Therefore, the multi-process user program will be dynamically optimized.
Experimental results show that the proposed approach can improve the system performance.

Key words:  Linux, memory management, scratch-pad memory (SPM), auto profile and page swap (APPS)