Specifying implementations of code for code generation from a model

• US 7,900,188 B2
• Filed: 09/01/2006
• Issued: 03/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: The MathWorks, Inc.
• Inventors: Ogilvie, Brian K., Costa, Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Khatri; Anil
• Application Number:
  US11/514,818
• Publication Number:
  US 20080127057A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,642 Days
• Field of Search: 717104-109, 717123-125, 717136-137, 717113-115, 717/146
• US Class Current: 717/106
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention allow user to generate a model in a modeling environment and to generate code from the model using various implementations of code for portions of the model. The implementations of code can be supplied by the modeling environment or supplied by a user. Embodiments further allow a user to specify a scope in a model such that portions of the model contained in the scope use a specific implementation or implementations of code.

Claims

1. In a computing system, a computer-implemented method comprising:

with the computing system;

inserting a plurality of elements into the model;

specifying a scope for at least a subset of the plurality of elements;

identifying a first implementation of code that corresponds to the first portion of a model, the first portion of the model being a subset of the plurality of elements that are encompassed by the scope;

identifying a second implementation of code that corresponds to the first portion of the model;

specifying a performance characteristic for an implementation of code that corresponds to the first portion of the model, the performance characteristic being one of or a weighted combination of power reduction, area reduction, memory usage reduction, execution time reduction, stack usage reduction or conformance with a coding standard;

selecting one of the first implementation or the second implementation based on the specified performance characteristic; and

generating code for the model, wherein a section of code that corresponds to the first portion of the model employs the selected one of the first or second implementations of code.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein

a user specifies the performance characteristic.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the

user specifies the performance characteristic via an application program interface (API).

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving data to customize the selected implementation of code.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the data is one of a parameter or data value.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the generated code is one of a programming language or a hardware description language.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

specifying the first implementation of code as a default implementation for the generating of code for the first portion of the model.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first implementation of code is a user-supplied implementation of code.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

identifying a targeted device that is capable of implementing the generated code; and

sending at least a portion of the generated code to the targeted device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the model is a graphical model.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the code generated is a hardware description language representation of the model.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first implementation of code is an intermediate representation.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first implementation of code is a template.

14. A non-transitory medium for use on a computing device, the medium holding instructions executable using the computing device, the instructions for performing the steps of:

identifying a first implementation of code that corresponds to a first portion of a model;

identifying a second implementation of code that corresponds to the first portion of the model;

specifying a performance characteristic for an implementation of code that corresponds to the first portion of the model, the performance characteristic being one of or a weighted combination of power reduction, area reduction, memory usage reduction, execution time reduction, stack usage reduction or conformance with coding standards;

selecting the first implementation or the second implementation based on the specified performance characteristic; and

generating code for the model, wherein a section of code that corresponds to the first portion of the model employs the selected one of the first or second implementations of code;

identifying a targeted device that is capable of implementing the generated code; and

identifying a selection of implementations of code that are capable of being used on the targeted device, the selection comprising the first and second implementations.

15. The non-transitory medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further perform the step of:

receiving a selection, from a user or a program, the selection used for specifying the performance characteristic.

16. The non-transitory medium of claim 14, wherein the model is a graphical model.

17. The non-transitory medium of claim 14, wherein the code generated is a hardware description language representation of the model.

18. In a computing device, a computer-implemented method comprising:

with the computing device;

inserting a plurality of elements into the model;

specifying a scope for at least a subset of the plurality of elements;

identifying a first implementation of code that corresponds to the first portion of the model, the first portion of the model being a subset of the plurality of elements that are encompassed by the scope;

identifying a second implementation of code that corresponds to the first portion of the model;

selecting, programmatically, one of the first or second implementations of code based on an identified constraint; and

generating code for the model, wherein a section of code that corresponds to the first portion of the model employs one of the automatically selected first or second implementations of code.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving the identified constraint from a user.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the first implementation of code is supplied by a user.

21. A non-transitory medium for use on a computing device, the medium holding instructions executable using the computing device, the instructions for:

inserting a plurality of elements into the model;

specifying a scope for at least a subset of the plurality of elements;

identifying a first implementation of code that corresponds to the first portion of the model, the first portion of the model being a subset of the plurality of elements that are encompassed by the scope;

identifying a second implementation of code that corresponds to the first portion of the model;

selecting, programmatically, one of the first or second implementations of code based on an identified constraint; and

generating code for the model, wherein a section of code that corresponds to the first portion of the model employs one of the automatically selected first or second implementations of code.