Agility Design Solutions Inc.

National Instruments Corporation

John R Allen

Guang Yu Yang

Hugo A Andrade

Jeffrey N Correll

Jacob Kornerup

Ian C Wong

Kaushik Ravindran

Rhishikesh Limaye

Guoqiang Wang

Michael J Trimborn

Arkadeb Ghosal

System and method for optimizing a data flow diagram based on access pattern information are described. Access pattern information for a data flow diagram may be received. The data flow diagram may include a plurality of interconnected actors, e.g., functional blocks, visually indicating functionality of the data flow diagram. The access pattern information may include one or more of: input pattern information specifying cycles on which tokens are consumed by at least one of the actors, or output pattern information specifying cycles on which tokens are produced by at least one of the actors. A program that implements the functionality of the data flow diagram may be generated based at least in part on the access pattern information.

Optimization of a data flow program based on access pattern information

A computer is programmed to emulate a fixed-point operation that is normally performed on fixed-point operands, by use of a floating-point operation that is normally performed on floating-point operands. Several embodiments of the just-described computer emulate a fixed-point operation by: expanding at least one fixed-point operand into a floating-point representation (also called 'floating-point equivalent'), performing, on the floating-point equivalent, a floating-point operation that corresponds to the fixed-point operation, and reducing a floating-point result into a fixed-point result. The just-described fixed-point result may have the same representation as the fixed-point operand(s) and/or any user-specified fixed-point representation, depending on the embodiment. Also depending on the embodiment, the operands and the result may be either real or complex, and may be either scalar or vector. The above-described emulation may be performed either with an interpreter or with a compiler, depending on the embodiment. A conventional interpreter for an object-oriented language (such as MATLAB version 6) may be extended with a toolbox to perform the emulation. Use of type propagation and operator overloading minimizes the number of changes that a user must make to their program, in order to be able to use such emulation.

Emulation of a fixed point operation using a corresponding floating point operation

An ambiguous usage of a name in a statement of a computer program is resolved at least partially by adding to an entry statement thereof a definition that includes the ambiguously used name followed by constructing a definition-use graph, followed by checking whether or not an edge from the added definition reaches the statement containing the ambiguously used name. If all edges into the ambiguous statement are from the added definition, then the name is deemed to be a function call. If all edges into the ambiguous statement are not from the added definition, then the name is deemed to be a memory access. If some edges into the ambiguous statement are from the added definition but other edges are not, then the statement is flagged as a dual usage.

Inferring function calls in an ambiguous language computer program

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Los Altos, CA, United States of America

John R Allen