I/O virtualization utilizing an efficient hardware system-level Memory Management Unit

Abstract

We present the hardware architecture and extensions of an Input-Output Memory Management Unit (IOMMU) utilized in heterogeneous SoCs that support full virtualization. The proposed IOMMU architecture offers unique innovative features supporting multiple concurrently active virtual machine instances (VMs) with zero-latency world-context switching and enabling address translation services for up to a thousand virtual domains while serving multiple devices. At the same the proposed design allows for serving multiple address translation requests in parallel and per domain Translation Look-aside Buffer (TLB) invalidation.