Coupling operations on dynamically-sized data structures in data flow architectures

Abstract

A data processing system for implementing operations that generate a dynamically-sized output comprises a reconfigurable processor and a compiler. The compiler generates configuration data for configuring the reconfigurable processor to implement first and second operations and first and second connections. The first operation generates an output, and the second operation receives the output of the first operation as an input. The size of the output is unknown when generating the configuration data, and the output comprises a number of elements that is smaller than or equal to a predetermined maximum number of elements. The first connection for the output and the second connection for the input are both suitable for a transmission of the predetermined maximum number of elements. The reconfigurable processor is configured with the configuration data such that the reconfigurable processor implements the first operation, the second operation, the first connection, and the second connection.