Prototyping an image processing algorithm and emulating or simulating execution on a hardware accelerator to estimate resource usage or performance

A computer implemented method, comprising:

• utilizing a computer to perform:
• storing a machine vision prototype in a memory medium, the machine vision prototype comprising:
• a plurality of machine vision steps, wherein the plurality of machine vision steps specifies a machine vision image processing algorithm and associated parameters, and wherein the plurality of machine vision steps is interpretable by an emulator to perform the specified image processing on an image by emulating or simulating execution of the plurality of machine vision steps on a hardware accelerator;
• analyzing the machine vision prototype;
• automatically generating, based on said analyzing, a graphical program implementing the specified image processing algorithm, wherein the graphical program parallelizes at least a portion of the image processing, wherein the graphical program comprises a plurality of interconnected nodes that visually indicate functionality of the graphical program, and wherein the graphical program is targeted for deployment to the hardware accelerator;
• estimating resource usage or performance of execution of the graphical program by the hardware accelerator;
• based on the estimated resource usage or performance, determining that the hardware accelerator is capable of executing the graphical program;
• and
• based on the determination that the hardware accelerator is capable of executing the graphical program, deploying the graphical program to the hardware accelerator.

A system, comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory, coupled to the processor;
• and
• a display, coupled to the processor and memory;
• wherein the memory stores program instructions executable by the processor to:
• store a machine vision prototype, the machine vision prototype comprising:
• a plurality of machine vision steps, wherein the plurality of machine vision steps specifies a machine vision image processing algorithm, and wherein the plurality of machine vision steps is interpretable by an emulator to perform the specified image processing on an image by emulating or simulating execution of the plurality of machine vision steps on a hardware accelerator;
• analyze the machine vision prototype;
• automatically generate, based on said analyzing, a graphical program implementing the specified image processing algorithm, wherein the graphical program parallelizes at least a portion of the image processing, and wherein the graphical program is targeted for deployment to the hardware accelerator;
• estimate resource usage or performance of execution of the graphical program by the hardware accelerator;
• based on the estimated resource usage or performance, determine that the hardware accelerator is capable of executing the graphical program;
• and
• based on the determination that the hardware accelerator is capable of executing the graphical program, deploy the graphical program to the hardware accelerator.