System and method for designing and optimizing the memory of an embedded processing system

A method of designing a memory configuration for use in an embedded processing system, the method comprising the steps of:

• simulating execution of a program to be executed by the embedded processing system;
• during the simulated execution of the program, monitoring memory accesses to a simulated memory space, wherein said memory accesses comprise read operations and write operations, and generating memory usage statistical data associated with the monitored memory accesses;
• using the memory usage statistical data, a memory model and one or more design criteria associated with the embedded processing system determining a plurality of memory configurations satisfying the one or more design criteria and determining a figure of merit for each determined memory configuration,
• wherein the memory model includes, for each of a plurality of memory types, one or more characteristics selected from write power, refresh power, read power, area per bit, area efficiency, write speed, read speed, erase capability and block size, wherein the figure of merit for each determined memory configuration indicates a degree to which the respective one of the determined memory configurations satisfies the one or more design criteria, and wherein the one or more design criteria are selected from memory type usage constraints, memory type size constraints, memory power consumption objectives, and memory speed objectives;
• selecting one of the determined memory configurations for use in the embedded processing system to best meet the one or more design criteria;
• and
• automatically modifying the program in response to the memory usage statistical data, the selected memory configuration, and the figure of merit for the selected memory configuration to achieve greater efficiencies.

For use in a processing system, a computer-readable storage medium containing computer-executable instructions for designing a memory configuration for use in an embedded processing system, the computer-executable instructions comprising the steps of:

• simulating execution of a program to be executed by the embedded processing system;
• during the simulated execution of the program, monitoring memory accesses to a simulated memory space, wherein said memory accesses comprise read operations and write operations, and generating memory usage statistical data associated with the monitored memory accesses;
• using the memory usage statistical data, a memory model and one or more design criteria associated with the embedded processing system determining a plurality of memory configurations satisfying the one or more design criteria and determining a figure of merit for each determined memory configuration, wherein the memory model includes, for each of a plurality of memory types, one or more characteristics selected from write power, refresh power, read power, area per bit, area efficiency, write speed, read speed, erase capability and block size, wherein the figure of merit for each memory configuration indicates a degree to which the respective one of the memory configurations satisfies the one or more design criteria, and wherein the one or more design criteria are selected from memory type usage constraints, memory type size constraints, memory power consumption objectives, and memory speed objectives;
• selecting one of the determined memory configurations for use in the embedded processing system to best meet the one or more design criteria;
• and
• automatically modifying the program in response to the memory usage statistical data, the selected memory configuration, and the figure of merit for the selected memory configuration to achieve greater efficiencies.