A method and apparatus for an apparatus and method for reduction of power consumption
in OS that use flat segmentation memory model are described. In one embodiment,
the method includes monitoring a segment register to detect a segment register
update operation. Once the segment register update operation is detected, a code/data
segment contained within the segment register is identified as one of a segmented
code/data segment and a flat code/data segment. Once detected, the segment register
is updated according to whether the segment is flat or segmented. Accordingly,
when a segment register read is performed, one or more updated bits within the
segment register are used to identify the code/data read from the segment register
as either flat or segmented.
