Method and system for transcoding data

• US 9,189,211 B1
• Filed: 06/30/2010
• Issued: 11/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Nicholson, Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): Dao, Thuy
• Assistant Examiner(s): St Leger, Geoffrey
• Application Number:
  US12/827,329
• Time in Patent Office: 1,966 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/41 Compilation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/51 Source to source

Abstract

Method and apparatus and computer program code for cross programming language transformation. This transcoding permits automation of a video game asset conditioning process by using introspection and reflection capabilities of high level tool languages to generate optimally-packed, platform-specific binary memory images as well as the code, such as C++ to read the images.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a memory device that receives a plurality of first program code, each first program code utilizing a descriptive programming language, the first program code defining one or more classes, the definition including a name of the class and the attributes of the class;

an intermediate code generator that generates an intermediate representation in low-level code of the descriptive programming language of the first program code, wherein the intermediate representation having a header file for each class, the header file containing transcoding of the first program such that each class becomes an intermediate structure that contains the fields and first program array forms become pointers to transformed payloads, along with a counter variable;

a code generator that generates a second program code from the intermediate representation and utilizes a procedural programming language based on selected one or more of the first program code;

a conditioning unit that generates platform-specific runtime data associated with the first program code used in the code generator; and

a terminal having a processor that executes the second program code and the platform-specific runtime data to produce output data.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the descriptive programming language includes C-sharp (C#), or Java.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the procedural programming language includes C or C++.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the code generator is implemented by the descriptive programming language.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the code generator generates the second program code using an introspection function of the descriptive programming language.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the code generator generates the second program code using a reflection function of the descriptive programming language.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the code generator transcodes each class used in the first program code into a structure in the second program code according to a predetermined conversion.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the second program code includes read-only data.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the conditioning unit includes a conditioning instance module.

10. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a memory image generator.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the memory image generator receives conditioned data from the conditioning unit and generates a memory image according to a platform of the terminal.

12. The system according to claim 10, wherein the memory image includes binary data.

13. The system according to claim 1, wherein the conditioning unit conditions a plurality of assets for a game.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the conditioning unit conditions tool data for the game.

15. The system according to claim 1, wherein the code generator and the conditioning unit implement functions using C# language.

16. The system according to claim 1, wherein the terminal includes a PlayStation-Portable (PSP) device or a PlayStation3 (PS3) device.

17. A process for transcoding data comprising:

receiving a plurality of first program code, each first program code utilizing a descriptive programming language, the first program code defining one or more classes, the definition including a name of the class and the attributes of the class;

generating an intermediate representation in low-level code of the descriptive programming language of the first program code, wherein the intermediate representation is based on each class and each field in the first program code, the intermediate representation having a header file for each class, the header file containing transcoding of the first program such that each class becomes an intermediate structure that contains the fields and first program array forms become pointers to transformed payloads, along with a counter variable;

generating a second program code from the intermediate representation and utilizing a procedural programming language based on selected one or more of the first program code;

generating platform-specific runtime data associated with the first program code; and

executing the second program code and the platform-specific runtime data to produce output data.

18. The product of the process of claim 17 stored in a computer readable memory.

19. A method for transcoding data comprising:

receiving a plurality of first program code, each first program code utilizing a descriptive programming language, the first program code defining one or more classes, the definition including a name of the class and the attributes of the class;

generating an intermediate representation in low-level code of the descriptive programming language of the first program code, wherein the intermediate representation is based on each class and each field in the first program code, the intermediate representation having a header file for each class, the header file containing transcoding of the first program such that each class becomes an intermediate structure that contains the fields and first program array forms become pointers to transformed payloads, along with a counter variable;

generating a second program code that utilizes a procedural programming language based on selected one or more of the first program code;

generating platform-specific runtime data associated with the first program code; and

executing the second program code and the platform-specific runtime data to produce output data.

20. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the descriptive programming language includes C-sharp (C#), or Java.

21. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the procedural programming language includes C or C++.

22. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the second program code uses an introspection function of the descriptive programming language.

23. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the second program code uses a reflection function of the descriptive programming language.

24. The method as claimed in claim 19 further comprising:

transcoding each class used in the first program code into a structure in the second program code according to a predetermined conversion.

25. The method as claimed in claim 19, further comprising:

receiving conditioned data; and

generating a memory image according to a desired platform.

26. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing program code that when executed by a processor, performs the steps of:

receiving a plurality of first program code, each first program code utilizing a descriptive programming language, the first program code defining one or more classes, the definition including a name of the class and the attributes of the class;

generating an intermediate representation in low-level code of the descriptive programming language of the first program code, wherein the intermediate representation is based on each class and each field in the first program code, the intermediate representation having a header file for each class, the header file containing transcoding of the first program such that each class becomes an intermediate structure that contains the fields and first program array forms become pointers to transformed payloads, along with a counter variable;

generating a second program code from the intermediate representation utilizing a procedural programming language based on selected one or more of the first program code;

generating platform-specific runtime data associated with the first program code; and

executing the second program code and the platform-specific runtime data to produce output data.

27. The program code as claimed in claim 26, wherein the descriptive programming language includes C-sharp (C#), or Java.

28. The program code as claimed in claim 26, wherein the procedural programming language includes C or C++.

29. The program code as claimed in claim 26, wherein the second program code uses an introspection function of the descriptive programming language.

30. The program code as claimed in claim 26, wherein the second program code uses a reflection function of the descriptive programming language.

31. The program code as claimed in claim 26 further comprising program code for:

transcoding each class used in the first program code into a structure in the second program code according to a predetermined conversion.

32. The program code as claimed in claim 26, further comprising program code for:

receiving conditioned data; and

generating a memory image according to a desired platform.