VIRTUAL MACHINE INTERFACE FOR HARDWARE RECONFIGURABLE AND SOFTWARE PROGRAMMABLE PROCESSORS

• US 20080086548A1
• Filed: 08/20/2007
• Published: 04/10/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
• Original Assignee: Infineon Technologies AG
• Inventors: Joag, Raju, Medlock, Joel, Hesky, Kenneth, Woodthorpe, Christopher, Chen, Song
• Granted Patent: US 8,020,176 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/221
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/32 Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/00 Devices specially adapted for wireless communication networks, e.g. terminals, base stations or access point devices

Abstract

The present invention provides a virtual machine interface (VMI) and an application programming interface (API) usable in conjunction with a reconfigurable wireless network communication apparatus. The reconfigurable wireless network communication apparatus comprises a plurality of hardware kernels. The apparatus can be reconfigured to support different or modified communication protocols over time. The VMI comprises a library of software objects. By configuring VMI software objects, a programmer selects the communication protocol used by the reconfigurable wireless network communication apparatus. The API of the present invention provides higher level management of the communication protocol used by a reconfigurable wireless network communication apparatus. The API comprises a library of high level software objects that further abstract hardware details of the apparatus.

Claims

1. :

An object-oriented virtual machine interface for a reconfigurable wireless network communication apparatus;

said reconfigurable wireless network communication apparatus comprising a plurality of kernels; and

said object-oriented virtual machine interface comprising a plurality of software objects including a first subset of said software objects, each software object in said first subset of said software objects associated with a different kernel in said plurality of kernels so that a change to a software object in said first subset of said software objects results in a change in said kernel associated with said software object.

2. :

The object-oriented virtual machine interface of claim 1 wherein said plurality of software objects includes a second subset of said software objects, each software object in said second subset of said software objects having at least one adjustable attribute.

3. :

The object-oriented virtual machine interface of claim 2 wherein said as least one adjustable attribute is a static or dynamic attribute.

4. :

The object-oriented virtual machine interface of claim 1 wherein a kernel in said plurality of kernels is configurable in accordance with a communication protocol.

5. :

The object-oriented virtual machine interface of claim 4 wherein said selected communication protocol is a CDMA (code division multiple access) protocol.

6. :

The object-oriented virtual machine interface of claim 4 wherein said communication protocol is selected from the group consisting of IS-95 CDMA, IS-95B CDMA, CDMA TIA IS2000, TIA IS 2000A, wideband CDMA (WCDMA), cdma2000, and ARIB-WCDMA.

7. :

The object-oriented virtual machine interface of claim 4 wherein said selected communication protocol is a time division multiple access (TDMA) protocol.

8. :

The object-oriented virtual machine interface of claim 7 wherein said communication protocol is IS-136 TDMA.

9. :

The object-oriented virtual machine interface of claim 1 wherein a software object in said plurality of software objects is a searcher object, a code generation unit object or a finger object.

10. :

The object-oriented virtual machine interface of claim 1 wherein a software object in said plurality of software objects is a matched filter object or a combiner object.

11. :

The object-oriented virtual machine interface of claim 1 wherein a software object in said plurality of software objects is an uplink object or a downlink object.

12. :

The object-oriented virtual machine interface of claim 1,

said plurality of software objects comprising a searcher object, a code generation unit object, a finger object, a matched filter object, a combiner object, an uplink object and a downlink object; and

said plurality of kernels comprising a searcher kernel, a code generation unit kernel, a finger kernel, a matched filter kernel, a combiner kernel, an uplink kernel and a downlink kernel;

wherein;

said searcher object is associated with said searcher kernel;

said code generation unit object is associated with said code generation unit kernel;

said finger object is associated with said finger kernel;

said matched filter object is associated with said matched filter kernel;

said combiner object is associated with said combiner kernel;

said uplink object is associated with said uplink kernel; and

and said downlink object is associated with said downlink kernel.

13. :

An object-oriented reconfigurable system comprising an object-oriented virtual machine interface, a virtual machine and a reconfigurable apparatus,

said reconfigurable apparatus coupled to said virtual machine and comprising a plurality of kernels; and

said object-oriented virtual machine interface coupled to said virtual machine and comprising a plurality of software objects including a first subset of said software objects, each software object in said first subset of said software objects associated with a different kernel in said plurality of kernels such that a change to a software object in said first subset of said software objects results in a change in said kernel associated with said software object.

14. :

The object-oriented reconfigurable system of claim 13 wherein said plurality of software objects includes a second subset of said software objects, each software object in said second subset of said software objects having at least one adjustable attribute.

15. :

The object-oriented reconfigurable system of claim 14 wherein said at least one adjustable attribute is a static or dynamic attribute.

16. :

The object-oriented reconfigurable system of claim 13 further comprising;

an application program interface comprising a plurality of software routines, each software routine in said plurality of software routines representing a different communication protocol, wherein said plurality of software routines comprise software calls to said plurality of software objects; and

an application program comprising software calls to said plurality of software routines.

17. :

The object-oriented reconfigurable system of claim 16 further comprising;

a compiler within said virtual machine to translate said application program into machine-readable instructions executable on said object-oriented reconfigurable system.

18. :

The object-oriented reconfigurable system of claim 17 further comprising;

a resource allocator within said object-oriented reconfigurable system, said resource allocator configured to receive said machine-readable instructions and issue a signal to configure a kernel in said plurality of kernels.

19. :

The object-oriented reconfigurable system of claim 13 further comprising;

an application program for utilizing said plurality of software objects.

20. :

The object-oriented reconfigurable system of claim 19 further comprising;

a compiler within said virtual machine to translate said application program into machine-readable instructions executable on said object-oriented reconfigurable system.

21-73. -73. (canceled)