SOFTWARE/HARDWARE PARTITIONING PROGRAM AND METHOD

• US 20070245326A1
• Filed: 10/04/2006
• Published: 10/18/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Socionext Inc.
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Tatsuoka, Masato, Ike, Atsushi
• Granted Patent: US 7,908,592 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/140
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2115/02 System on chip [SoC] design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2117/08 HW-SW co-design, e.g. HW-SW partitioning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/30 Circuit design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/33 Design verification, e.g. functional simulation or model checking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/3308 using simulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/44 Encoding

Abstract

A SW/HW partitioning and evaluating program allows a computer to perform a procedure of compiling a source code in which a mark is added to a portion to be executed by hardware, a procedure of generating an executable program for a simulator of CPU on a SoC, a procedure of storing in memory an execution result of the executable program, and a procedure of evaluating an SW/HW partition based on the execution result.

Claims

1. A computer-readable recording medium that stores a software/hardware partitioning evaluating program used to direct a computer to partition a source code into a software unit and a hardware unit to realize an application, wherein the evaluating program enables the computer to execute:

a step for compiling a source code in which a mark is added to a hardware unit to be executed by hardware in the source code corresponding to the application, and generating an executable program for a simulator of a central processing unit used to realize the application;

a step for storing in memory an execution result of the executable program using the simulator; and

a step for evaluating a partition between a software unit and a hardware unit corresponding to the mark added to the hardware unit based on the execution result stored in the memory.

2. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 1, wherein

the executable program includes an instruction code corresponding to a start point and an end point of the hardware unit as the mark.

3. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 2, wherein

the simulator identifies a hardware unit and a software unit excluding the hardware unit using an instruction code corresponding to the start point and the end point of the hardware unit in the executable program.

4. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 1, wherein

the executable program is executed by the simulator without discriminating the hardware unit from the software unit excluding the hardware unit;

an execution result by the simulator is discriminated corresponding to the hardware unit and the software unit and stored in memory; and

based on the storage result, a partition between the software and the hardware is evaluated.

5. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 1, wherein

a position of a mark added to the hardware unit is specified through a graphic user interface.

6. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 1, wherein

an instruction code in the hardware unit to which the mark is added includes data which can identify a hardware block as a part of the hardware unit.

7. A computer-readable recording medium that stores a software/hardware partitioning evaluating program used to direct a computer to partition a source code into a software unit and a hardware unit to realize an application, wherein the evaluating program enables the computer to execute:

a step for compiling a source code in which a mark is added to a hardware unit to be executed by hardware in the source code corresponding to the application, and generating a model of a hardware unit as a process portion to be realized by hardware, an executable program for a simulator of a central processing unit used to realize the application, and an interface for calling a model of the hardware unit from the executable program;

a step for storing in memory an execution result of the executable program using the simulator including a result obtained by execution performed by calling a model of the hardware unit; and

a step for evaluating a partition between a software unit and a hardware unit corresponding to the mark added to the hardware unit based on the execution result stored in the memory.

8. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 7, wherein

the simulator performs all processes corresponding to the source code of the application including a process corresponding to the model of the hardware unit in addition to a process corresponding to the software unit.

9. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 7, wherein

the computer further performs a procedure of generating an address specification file storing an address of the block to be specified when the executable program calls a block in the model of the hardware unit during the compilation.

10. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 9, wherein

the address stored in the address specification file is automatically set during the compilation.

11. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 9, wherein

the address stored in the address specification file is set corresponding to external specification when the mark is added to the hardware unit.

12. A software/hardware partitioning evaluating method for partitioning a source code into a software unit and a hardware unit to realize an application, comprising:

compiling a source code in which a mark is added to a hardware unit to be executed by hardware in the source code corresponding to the application, and generating an executable program for a simulator of a central processing unit used to realize the application;

storing in memory an execution result of the executable program using the simulator; and

evaluating a partition between a software unit and a hardware unit corresponding to the mark added to the hardware unit based on the execution result stored in the memory.

13. A software/hardware partitioning evaluating method for partitioning a source code into a software unit and a hardware unit to realize an application, comprising:

compiling a source code in which a mark is added to a hardware unit to be executed by hardware in the source code corresponding to the application, and generating a model of a hardware unit as a process portion to be realized by hardware, an executable program for a simulator of a central processing unit used to realize the application, and an interface for calling a model of the hardware unit from the executable program;

storing in memory an execution result of the executable program using the simulator including a result obtained by execution performed by calling the model of the hardware unit; and

evaluating a partition between a software unit and a hardware unit corresponding to the mark added to the hardware unit based on the execution result stored in the memory.