Method and apparatus for memory compression

Abstract

Memory apparatus and methods relating to memory compression are disclosed. In an embodiment, a memory agent may comprise a compression engine to compress or decompress data in the agent without sending the data on the host memory channel. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

1 . A method comprising:
 compressing data on a first memory module without sending the compressed data to a host controller over a memory channel; and   isolating the first memory module from the memory channel.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein isolating the first memory module is performed by a memory buffer. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising initiating compression with an activate command followed by a compress command. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising intercepting a compress command and issuing a series of read commands. 
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein a read command is a DRAM read command. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the read commands access an entire data block. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising scheduling other memory traffic to a second memory module during the compression on the first memory module. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising sending memory traffic over a host channel while compressing data on the first memory module. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising initiating an overlapping decompression on a second memory module. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising sending an activate command followed by a Write Multiple command from a host controller to a memory module. 
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising intercepting the write Multiple command and issuing a series of write commands. 
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the write commands fill an entire data block. 
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising aligning data blocks within the memory module on page boundaries. 
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising allocating a first part of the first memory module to compressed data and a second part of the first memory module to uncompressed data. 
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising optimizing performance by managing the ratio of compressed parts of memory to uncompressed parts of memory. 
   
   
       16 . A machine-readable medium containing machine readable instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to:
 compress data on a first memory module without sending the compressed data to a host controller over a memory channel; and   isolate the first memory module from the memory channel.   
   
   
       17 . The medium of  claim 16 , wherein isolating the first memory module is performed by a memory buffer. 
   
   
       18 . The medium of  claim 16 , wherein the instructions further cause the machine to schedule other memory traffic to a second memory module during the compression on the first memory module. 
   
   
       19 . The medium of  claim 16 , wherein the instructions further cause the machine to send memory traffic over a host channel while compressing data on the first memory module. 
   
   
       20 . The medium of  claim 16 , wherein the instructions further cause the machine to initiate an overlapping decompression on a second memory module.