A hardware/software partitioning algorithm for processor cores of digital signal processing

A hardware/software cosynthesis system for processor cores of digital signal processing has been developed. This paper focuses on a hardware/software partitioning algorithm which is one of the key issues in the system. Given an input assembly code generated by the compiler in the system, the proposed hardware/software partitioning algorithm first determines the types and the numbers of required hardware units, such as multiple functional units, hardware loop units, and particular addressing units, for a processor core (initial resource allocation). Second, the hardware units determined at initial resource allocation are reduced one by one while the assembly code meets a given timing constraint (configuration of a processor core). The execution time of the assembly code becomes longer but the hardware costs for a processor core to execute it becomes smaller. Finally, it outputs an optimized assembly code and a processor configuration. Experimental results demonstrate that the system synthesizes processor cores effectively according to the features of an application program/data.