HDL preprocessor
View Patent ↗The present invention describes a VHDL preprocessor. Configurable and flexible VHDL sources comprise statements that are replaceable by specific values dependent on design requirements.
1. A method for configuring projects and/or IP cores written in a hardware description language, said method comprising:
providing source code of projects and/or IP cores to be configured;
including in said source code statements representing configurable parameters;
evaluating said included statements based on input data representing a specific configuration desired by a user to obtain specific values for said configurable parameters based on said input data; and
replacing said statements by said specific values.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the source code is written in Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL) source code.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said statements are LISP statements.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said input data are input by a user.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating a test sequence of the specifically configured project and/or IP core.
6. A method for obtaining configured projects and/or IP cores written in a hardware description language as desired by a user based on flexibly configurable projects and/or IP cores, said flexibly configurable projects and/or IP cores comprising source code having statements representing configurable parameters, said method comprising:
evaluating said statements based on input data representing a specific configuration, said act of evaluating said statements comprising calculating specific values for said configurable parameters based on said input data; and
replacing said statements by said calculated specific values.
7. The method claim 6 , wherein the source code is written in Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL) source code.
8. The method of claim 6 , wherein said statements are LISP statements.
9. The method of claim 6 , wherein said input data are input by a user.
10. The method of claim 6 , further comprising generating a test sequence of the specifically configured project and/or IP core.
11. An apparatus for configuring projects and/or IP cores written in a hardware description language, said apparatus comprising:
storage means for providing source code of projects and/or IP cores to be configured;
means for including in said source code statements representing configurable parameters;
evaluating means for evaluating said included statements based on input data representing a specific configuration desired by a user to obtain specific values for said configurable parameters based on said input data; and
computing means replacing said statements by said specific values.
12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the source code is written in Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL) source code.
13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein said statements are LISP statements.
14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein said input data are input by a user.
15. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising generation means for generating a test sequence of the specifically configured project and/or IP core.
16. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising generation means for automatically generating a test sequence of the specifically configured project and/or IP core.
17. An apparatus for obtaining configured projects and/or IP cores written in a hardware description language as desired by a user based on flexibly configurable projects and/or IP cores, said flexibly configurable projects and/or IP cores comprising source code having statements representing configurable parameters, said apparatus comprising:
evaluating means for evaluating said statements based on input data representing a specific configuration and for obtaining specific values for said configurable parameters based on said input data; and
computing means replacing said statements by said specific values.
18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the source code is written in Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL) source code.
19. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein said statements are LISP statements.
20. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein said input data are input by a user.
21. The apparatus of claim 17 , further comprising generation means for generating a test sequence of the specifically configured project and/or IP core.
22. A system for configuring projects and/or IP cores written in a hardware description language, said system comprising a computer having a processor and a memory, said memory having stored therein a preprocessing program for (i) providing source code of projects and/or IP cores to be configured; (ii) including in said source code statements representing configurable parameters; (iii) evaluating said included statements based on input data representing a specific configuration desired by a user and obtaining parameter values for said configurable parameters based on said input data; and (iv) replacing each of said statements representing configurable parameters with the parameter value corresponding to the statement.
23. The system of claim 22 , wherein the source code is written in Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL) source code.
24. The system of claim 22 , wherein said statements are LISP statements.
25. The system of claim 22 , wherein said input data are input by a user.
26. The system of claim 22 , further comprising generating a test sequence of the specifically configured project and/or IP core.
27. A system for obtaining configured projects and/or IP cores written in a hardware description language as desired by a user based on flexibly configurable projects and/or IP cores, said flexibly configurable projects and/or IP cores comprising source code having statements representing configurable parameters, said system comprising a computer having a processor and a memory, said memory having stored therein a preprocessing program for (i) evaluating said statements based on input data representing a specific configuration to obtain specific values for said configurable parameters based on said input data; and (ii) replacing said statements by said specific values.
28. The system of claim 27 , wherein the source code is written in Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL) source code.
29. The system of claim 27 , wherein said statements are LISP statements.
30. The system of claim 27 , wherein said input data are input by a user.
31. The system of claim 27 , further comprising generating a test sequence of the specifically configured project and/or IP core.
32. An article of manufacture for configuring projects and/or IP cores written in a hardware description language, said article comprising:
a storage medium, the storage medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that, when executed by a machine, result in
providing source code of projects and/or IP cores to be configured;
including in said source code statements representing configurable parameters;
evaluating said included statements based on input data representing a specific configuration desired by a user and obtaining specific values for said configurable parameters based on said input data; and
replacing said statements by said specific values.
33. The article of claim 32 , wherein the source code is written in Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL) source code.
34. The article of claim 32 , wherein said statements are LISP statements.
35. The article of claim 32 , wherein said input data are input by a user.
36. The article of claim 32 , further comprising generating a test sequence of the specifically configured project and/or IP core.
37. An article of manufacture for obtaining configured projects and/or IP cores written in a hardware description language as desired by a user based on flexibly configurable projects and/or IP cores, said flexibly configurable projects and/or IP cores comprising source code having statements representing configurable parameters, said article comprising:
a storage medium, the storage medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that, when executed by a machine, result in
evaluating said statements based on input data representing a specific configuration and obtaining specific values for said configurable parameters based on said data input; and
replacing said statements by said specific values.
38. The article of claim 37 , wherein the source code is written in Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL) source code.
39. The article of claim 37 , wherein said statements are LISP statements.
40. The article of claim 37 , wherein said input data are input by a user.
41. The article of claim 37 , further comprising generating a test sequence of the specifically configured project and/or IP core.