Abstract

Memory is one of the most restrictedresources in many modern embedded systems. Code compression can provide substantial savings in terms of size. In a compressedcode CPU, acache miss triggers the decompression of a main memory block, before it gets transferred to the cache. Because the code must bedecompressible starting from any point #or at least at cache block boundaries#, most #le-orientedcompression techniques cannot be used. We propose two algorithms to compress code in a space-e#cient and simple to decompress way, one which is independent of the instruction set and another which depends on the instruction set. We perform experiments on two instruction sets, a typical RISC #MIPS# and a typical CISC #x86# and compare our results to existing #le-orientedcompression algorithms. 1 Introduction Manyembedded computing systems are space and cost sensitive. As a result, available memory is limited, posing serious constraints on program size. We are studying ways of reducing the size of...

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