CAM processor synthesis based on behavioral descriptions

CAM (Content Addressable Memory) units are generally designed so that thc) carl be applied to variety of application programs. However, if a particula r application runs on CAM units, some functions in CAM units may be often u sed and other functions may never be used. We consider that appropriate des ign for CAM units is required depending on the requirements for a given app lication program. This paper proposes a CAM processor synthesis system base d on behavioral descriptions. The input of the system is an application pro grams written in C including CAM functions, and its output is hardware desc riptions of a synthesized processor and a binary code executed on it. Since the system determines functions in CAM units and synthesizes a CAM process or depending on the requirements of an application program, we expect that a synthesized CAM processor can execute the application program with small processor area and delay. Experimental results demonstrate its efficiency a nd effectiveness.