Automated method of architecture mapping selection from constrained high level language description via element characterization

• US 8,001,510 B1
• Filed: 09/05/2008
• Issued: 08/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xilinx, Inc. (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Xilinx, Inc. (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)
• Inventors: Schumacher, Paul R., Janneck, Jorn W., Parlour, David B., Miller, Ian D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rossoshek; Helen
• Application Number:
  US12/205,825
• Time in Patent Office: 1,075 Days
• Field of Search: 716/55, 716/102, 716/104, 716/105, 716/116, 716/117, 716/124, 716/126, 716/139
• US Class Current: 716/116
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/30 Circuit design

Abstract

Disclosure is made of approaches for mapping an electronic design specification to an implementation. In one approach, quality metrics are associated with functional units of the design, and the functional units are mapped to respective initial implementations. For each functional unit a respective quality indicator is determined based on the mapping. The quality indicator specifies a degree to which the functional unit achieves the associated quality metric. At least one of the functional units is selected for remapping based on the quality indicator of that functional unit or the quality indicator of another functional unit. An alternative implementation to the initial implementation is selected for each selected functional unit to improve the quality indicator. The selected functional unit is remapped to the selected alternative implementation.

Claims

1. A method for mapping an electronic design specification to an implementation, the design specification including a plurality of functional units, the method comprising:

associating a quality metric with one or more of the functional units;

mapping, by a processor, each functional unit to a respective initial implementation;

determining for each functional unit based on the mapping, a respective quality indicator that specifies a degree to which the functional unit achieves the associated quality metric;

selecting at least one of the functional units for remapping based on at least one of the quality indicator of that functional unit or the quality indicator of another functional unit;

selecting an alternative implementation to the initial implementation for each selected functional unit to improve the quality indicator, wherein the alternative implementation is selected from at least one hardware-type implementation and at least one software-type implementation; and

remapping the selected functional unit to the selected alternative implementation,

wherein the at least one of the functional units selected for remapping is a functional unit having a quality indicator that fails to meet a threshold.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein the determining the respective quality indicator includes,

executing the functional units based on the mapping,

during execution and in response to an executing functional unit being output blocked, storing data indicative of the functional unit being output blocked, and

during execution and in response to an executing functional unit being input blocked, storing data indicative of the functional unit being input blocked;

wherein the selecting at least one of the functional units for remapping includes,

determining for each output blocked functional unit, a subset of the plurality of functional units that caused the functional unit to be indicated as output blocked, and

wherein the at least one of the functional units selected for remapping includes a functional unit of the subset that is indicated as being input blocked.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the selecting at least one of the functional units for remapping includes:

determining a priority order of the functional units based on respective degrees to which the functional units achieve the associated quality metric, and

selecting the at least one of the functional units based on the priority order.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein the determining the respective quality indicator includes, determining respective concurrency factors of two or more of the functional units; and

wherein the at least one of the functional units selected for remapping is selected based on the concurrency factors.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the respective quality indicator comprises:

executing the functional units based on the mapping, and

during execution, storing time-annotated trace information indicative of the quality metric of the functional units.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein each connection specified between the functional units in the electronic design specification is a respective first-in-first-out channel;

decomposing a first of the selected at least one functional unit into at least two functional units with a respective first-in-first-out channel coupling the at least two functional units;

wherein the selecting an alternative implementation includes selecting a corresponding implementation for each of the at least two functional units and the respective first-in-first-out channel; and

wherein the remapping includes mapping the at least two functional units and the respective first-in-first-out channel to the corresponding implementations.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the initial implementation of the first of the selected at least one functional unit is a software-type implementation and the corresponding implementation of at least one of the at least two functional units is a hardware implementation.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein each connection specified between the functional units in the electronic design specification is a respective first-in-first-out channel;

wherein the at least one selected functional unit includes first and second functional units;

merging the first and second functional units into a single functional unit;

wherein the selecting an alternative implementation includes selecting a corresponding implementation for the single functional unit; and

wherein the remapping includes mapping the single functional unit to the corresponding implementation.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the respective initial implementations of the first and second functional units are hardware implementations, and the corresponding implementation of the single functional unit is a software-type implementation.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the respective initial implementations are with programmable logic resources.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the respective initial implementations are with software-type implementations.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the respective initial implementations are with programmable logic resources and with software-type implementations.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein each connection specified between the functional units in the electronic design specification is a respective first-in-first-out channel;

wherein the at least one selected functional unit includes first and second functional units;

translating the first and second functional units into software that specifies a single thread and with the first-in-first-out channel between the first and second functional units implemented as a memory object;

wherein the remapping includes mapping the software that specifies the single thread to a processor.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein each connection specified between the functional units in the electronic design specification is a respective first-in-first-out channel;

wherein the at least one selected functional unit includes first and second functional units;

translating the first and second functional units into software that specifies respective threads and with the first-in-first-out channel between the first and second functional units implemented as a memory object;

wherein the remapping includes mapping the software that specifies the respective threads to a processor.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein the determining the respective quality indicator includes,

executing the functional units based on the mapping,

during execution and in response to an executing functional unit being output blocked, storing data indicative of the functional unit being output blocked, and

during execution and in response to an executing functional unit being input blocked from inputting data, storing data indicative of the functional unit being input blocked; and

wherein the selecting at least one of the functional units for remapping includes,

determining for each output blocked functional unit, a subset of the plurality of functional units that caused the functional unit to be indicated as output blocked, and

wherein the at least one of the functional units selected for remapping is a functional unit of the subset that is indicated as being input blocked; and

wherein the selected alternative implementation is a hardware implementation.

16. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a non-transitory processor-readable medium configured with instructions for mapping an electronic design specification to an implementation, wherein the design specification includes a plurality of functional units and the processor in executing the instructions performs the operations including;

associating a quality metric with one or more of the functional units;

mapping each functional unit to a respective initial implementation;

determining for each functional unit based on the mapping, a respective quality indicator that specifies a degree to which the functional unit achieves the associated quality metric;

selecting at least one of the functional units for remapping based on at least one of the quality indicator of that functional unit or the quality indicator of another functional unit;

selecting an alternative implementation to the initial implementation for each selected functional unit to improve the quality indicator, wherein the alternative implementation is selected from at least one hardware-type implementation and at least one software-type implementation; and

remapping the selected functional unit to the selected alternative implementation,

wherein the at least one of the functional units selected for remapping is a functional unit having a quality indicator that fails to meet a threshold.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the determining the respective quality indicator includes:

executing the functional units based on the mapping;

during execution and in response to an executing functional unit being output blocked, storing data indicative of the functional unit being output blocked; and

during execution and in response to an executing functional unit being input blocked, storing data indicative of the functional unit being input blocked; and

wherein the selecting at least one of the functional units for remapping includes;

determining for each output blocked functional unit, a subset of the plurality of functional units that caused the functional unit to be indicated as output blocked; and

wherein the at least one of the functional units selected for remapping is a functional unit of the subset that is indicated as being input blocked.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the selecting at least one of the functional units for remapping includes:

determining a priority order of the functional units based on respective degrees to which the functional units achieve the associated quality metric, and

selecting the at least one of the functional units based on the priority order.