skip to main content
article
Free Access

An efficient retargetable microcode generator

Authors Info & Claims
Published:01 December 1986Publication History
Skip Abstract Section

Abstract

This paper presents a microcode generator, which accepts a source program (algorithm) and a target description (microarchitecture) as input and generates microcode to implement the algorithm on the defined microarchitecture. The target description is similar to the outputs produced by datapath synthesis phase in hardware design packages. Thus, it can be incorporated to synthesise a microprogrammed control.

The microcode generator is based on an algorithm which preserves retargetability without sacrificing on design time. This is achieved by implementing the generator in two phases: in the first phase, a set of 'feasible' register transfer operations (called base-set) is generated from the microarchitecture description. In the second phase, translation is carried out by simply searching and matching the source program statements with the base-set.

References

  1. 1 S. Dasgupta, "Hardware Description Languages in Microprogramming Systems", Computer, Feb. 1985, pp. 67-76.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar
  2. 2 T. Baba and H. Hagiwara, "The MPG system: A Machine Independent Eficient Microprogram Generator", IEEE Trans. Comp. June 1981, pp. 373- 395.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  3. 3 Peter Marwedel, "A retargetable microcode generation system for a high level microprogramming language", MICRO-14, pp. 115-123, 1981. Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  4. 4 Robert J. Sheraga and J.L. Gieser "Experiments in Automatic microcode generation", IEEE Trans. Comp. C-32, June 1983, pp. 557-568.Google ScholarGoogle ScholarDigital LibraryDigital Library
  5. 5 M. Balakrishnan, "A Microprogram Generating System with emphasis on signal processing architeo tures", PhD Dissertation, 1984, IIT Delhi, New Delhi, INDIA.Google ScholarGoogle Scholar

Index Terms

  1. An efficient retargetable microcode generator

            Recommendations

            Comments

            Login options

            Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

            Sign in

            Full Access

            • Published in

              cover image ACM SIGMICRO Newsletter
              ACM SIGMICRO Newsletter  Volume 17, Issue 4
              Dec. 1986
              163 pages
              ISSN:1050-916X
              DOI:10.1145/19530
              Issue’s Table of Contents
              • cover image ACM Conferences
                MICRO 19: Proceedings of the 19th annual workshop on Microprogramming
                December 1986
                179 pages
                ISBN:081860736X
                DOI:10.1145/19551

              Copyright © 1986 Authors

              Publisher

              Association for Computing Machinery

              New York, NY, United States

              Publication History

              • Published: 1 December 1986

              Check for updates

              Qualifiers

              • article
            • Article Metrics

              • Downloads (Last 12 months)15
              • Downloads (Last 6 weeks)4

              Other Metrics

            PDF Format

            View or Download as a PDF file.

            PDF

            eReader

            View online with eReader.

            eReader
            About Cookies On This Site

            We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website.

            Learn more

            Got it!