A platform based SOC design methodology and its application in image compression

We describe a platform based design methodology for system-on-a-chip (SOC). An embedded 32-bit RISC CPU and a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) are used to implement applications that require both a program running on the CPU and hardware acceleration performed by the FPGA. The methodology consists of flow and tools for hardware/software partitioning, hardware accelerator design/synthesis, software compilation, interface generation, integrated hardware/software cosimulation, and system verification. We also present a case of implementing an image decoder in a hardware/software codesign fashion on the platform. Experimental results show that the methodology is indeed effective for IP development/verification and fast prototyping.