DESIGN VIEWS FOR SYNTHESISProviding Both Uniform Data Integration and Diverse

Synthesis is a complex task spanning many levels of abstractions and information domains. Hence, CAD systems utilize a global design database to achieve the much needed integration of this diverse design information into one central data model. Such a central database represents a serious bottleneck for the CAD system. First, it prevents the extensibility of the CAD system over time, since a change of the global data model requires an (often prohibitively expensive) modiication of all current design tools using the database. Second, it forces all design tools to work on the same (comprehensive and hence extremely complex) data model. In this paper, we introduce a solution to this problem. We propose to utilize the object-oriented view methodology, called MultiView, for specifying customized tool interfaces (design views) on the CAD database. A design view contains a subset of relevant information from the global database organized in a fashion most suitable to the needs of a particular design tool. MultiView automatically maintains the mapping between the global data model and local design views, thus freeing individual design tools from this burden. Our approach thus results in a exible CAD environment that assures the consistent integration of design data from diierent tools, while providing each tool with a customized view of the integrated data. This paper gives numerous examples that demonstrate MultiView and its advantages for typical tasks in high-level synthesis.