GENERIC LOW COST HARDWARE MECHANISM FOR MEMORY PROTECTION

摘要

There is provided a memory protection system comprising: address storage means storing the start and end addresses of each of a plurality of memory segments; control data storage means storing control data indicative of a type of permitted access to each of the plurality of memory segments; comparison means for comparing said start and end addresses with addresses of a selected memory portion to which a processor seeks access; and combination means for logically combining access data indicative of the type of access sought by the processor to the selected memory portion with said control data; wherein the comparison and combination results are indicative of whether or not the access to the selected memory portion sought by the processor is allowable. The present invention provides for the access protection of memory segments of any required size, both large and small.