HARDWARE/SOFTWARE DESIGN TOOL AND LANGUAGE SPECIFICATION MECHANISM ENABLING EFFICIENT TECHNOLOGY RETARGETING AND OPTIMIZATION

摘要

An innovative hardware/software design tool provides four modes of operation for converting an electronic design specification and zero or more technology specifications into realization of the electronic design in computer hardware, software and firmware. The first mode of operation compiles design and logic technology specifications into a model which can be utilized for behavioral analysis (such as simulation or formal verification) of logical characteristics (the model). The second mode of operation translates (compiles) partitions of the design and one or more logic technologies into one or more processor intermediates or binaries (embedded binary) suitable for execution on multi-purpose processing units (embedded or general purpose processors). The third mode of operation translates (synthesizes) partitions of the design and logic technology into a collection of cells and interconnects (net-list implementation) suitable for input to physical design processes such as is required to target a field-programmable logic array (FPGA) or custom logic. The fourth mode of operation analyzes (verifies) behavior of the embedded binaries running on processing units and implementations augmented by additional physical technology and parameters, yielding a more detailed (accurate) prediction of the resulting hardware/software system behavior when realized through manufacturing.