A processor contains a move engine and mapping engine that transparently reconfigure physical memory to accomplish addition, subtraction, or replacement of a
memory module. A mapping engine register stores FROM and TO real addresses that enable the engines to virtualize the
physical address of the
memory module being reconfigured and provide the reconfiguration in real-time through the use of hardware functionality and not
software. Using the FROM and TO real addresses to select a source and a target, the move engine copies the contents of the
memory module to be removed or reconfigured into the remaining or inserted memory module. Then, the real address associated with the reconfigured memory module is re-assigned to the memory module receiving the copied contents, thereby creating a virtualized
physical mapping from the addressable real
address space being utilized by the
operating system into a virtual
physical address space. During the process of moving the memory contents, the mapping engine maps Write memory requests addressed to the real
address space currently associated with the reconfigured memory module to both the FROM and TO real
address space. As will be appreciated, a memory module can be inserted, removed or replaced in physical memory without the
operating system having to direct and control the reconfiguration of physical memory to accomplish the physical memory change.