Systems and methods for providing a platform-specific porting layer for multi-level software stacks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9977673-B1
Application number	US-201514938488-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Nov 11, 2015
Priority date	Nov 13, 2014
Publication date	May 22, 2018
Grant date	May 22, 2018

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for providing a platform-dependent porting layer. The method includes receiving source code, provided by a user, comprising a plurality of generic instructions. The method includes determining a platform type of a target platform for executing the source code. The method includes retrieving, based on the platform type, a porting layer, associated with the target platform, comprising a plurality of platform-specific instructions. The method includes mapping each generic instruction of the plurality of generic instructions to a platform-specific instruction of the plurality of platform-specific instructions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for providing a platform-dependent porting layer, the method comprising:
receiving source code, provided by a user, comprising a plurality of generic instructions associated with a template porting layer associated with a plurality of platform types, wherein the template porting layer is configured to be modified to comprise a plurality of platform-specific instructions associated with a platform type of the plurality of platform types;
determining a platform type of a target platform for executing the source code;
retrieving, from a database, the template porting layer associated with the plurality of platform types, wherein the plurality of platform types includes the platform type of the target platform;
modifying a feature parameter of the template porting layer based on capabilities of the platform type into a modified feature parameter that is compatible with an application running on the target platform by:
in response to determining that a required operation for generating the modified feature parameter is unavailable from the target platform, identifying at least one operation supported by the target platform as an intermediate operation to indirectly achieve a same result with the required operation;
combining the at least one operation supported by the target platform and a result generated by the at least one operation to provide a new operation corresponding to the required operation in a form of a function wrapper that is executable via the plurality of platform-specific instructions by the target platform;

compiling the modified porting layer comprising a plurality of platform-specific instructions with software associated with the platform type of the target platform;
mapping each generic instruction of the plurality of generic instructions to a platform-specific instruction of the plurality of platform-specific instructions; and
executing, via a processor corresponding to the target platform, a compiled version of the source code on the target platform.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of platform-specific instructions corresponds to instructions defined in a generic architecture.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining the capabilities of the target platform based on the platform type.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising mapping each generic instruction of the plurality of generic instructions to a platform-specific instruction of a second plurality of platform-specific instructions associated with a second target platform.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the porting layer isolates the plurality of platform-specific instructions, and higher layers in a software stack comprise the plurality of generic instructions.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of platform-specific instructions includes a plurality of indications of the capabilities of the target platform.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of platform-specific instructions includes interface definitions.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of platform-specific instructions includes data structure definitions.

9. A system for providing a platform-dependent porting layer, the system comprising control circuitry configured to:
receive source code, provided by a user, comprising a plurality of generic instructions associated with a template porting layer associated with a plurality of platform types, wherein the template porting layer is configured to be modified to comprise a plurality of platform-specific instructions associated with a platform type of the plurality of platform types;
determine, using a processor, a platform type of a target platform for executing the source code;
retrieve, from a database, the template posting layer associated with the plurality of platform types, wherein the plurality of platform types includes the platform type of the target platform;
modify, using the processor, a feature parameter of the template porting layer based on capabilities of the platform type into a modified feature parameter that is compatible with an application running on the target platform by:
in response to determining that a required operation for generating the modified feature parameter is unavailable from the target platform, identifying at least one operation supported by the target platform as an intermediate operation to indirectly achieve a same result with the required operation;
combining the at least one operation supported by the target platform and a result generated by the at least one operation to provide a new operation corresponding to the required operation in a form of a function wrapper that is executable via the plurality of platform-specific instructions by the target platform;

compile, using the processor, the modified porting layer comprising a plurality of platform-specific instructions with software associated with the platform type of the target platform;
map, using the processor, each generic instruction of the plurality of generic instructions to a platform-specific instruction of the plurality of platform-specific instructions; and
execute, via a processor corresponding to the target platform, a compiled version of the source code on the target platform.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of platform-specific instructions corresponds to instructions defined in a generic architecture.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:
determine the capabilities of the target platform based on the platform type.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to map each generic instruction of the plurality of generic instructions to a platform-specific instruction of a second plurality of platform-specific instructions associated with a second target platform.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the porting layer isolates the plurality of platform-specific instructions, and higher layers in a software stack comprise the plurality of generic instructions.

14. The system of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of platform-specific instructions includes a plurality of indications of the capabilities of the target platform.

15. The system of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of platform-specific instructions includes interface definitions.

16. The system of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of platform-specific instructions includes data structure definitions.

Assignees

• Marvell Int Ltd

Inventors

• Friedkin Brian Steven
• Kellner Michael David
• Hoddie J Peter

Classifications

• G06F8/76 Primary

  Adapting program code to run in a different environment; Porting · CPC title

• G06F8/40

  Transformation of program code · CPC title

• G06F8/36

  Software reuse · CPC title