Emulation of a fixed point operation using a corresponding floating point operation

A method implemented in a set of instructions executable by a computer that comprises a floating point unit, the method comprising:

• said computer receiving receiving a program, at least a portion of said program being written for execution on a fixed point processor, said fixed point processor being not available for execution of said program, said portion of said program comprising at least one operand represented in fixed-point representation (hereinafter “fixed-point operand”), said fixed-point operand having at least one property selected from a group consisting of (signedness, precision, complexness);
• said computer expanding said fixed-point operand into a floating-point representation to obtain a floating-point equivalent;
• said computer receiving an instruction comprising an operation to be performed on the fixed-point operand;
• said computer receiving another instruction that indicates a type of said fixed-point operand;
• wherein said another instruction comprises a call to a function;
• said computer using said floating point unit to perform on the floating-point equivalent, at least one floating-point operation that corresponds to the fixed-point operation, yielding at least one floating-point result;
• said computer reducing, based on a value of said at least one property, said at least one floating-point result generated by the floating-point operation into a fixed-point result;
• and
• said computer displaying the fixed point result and receiving instructions for debugging said portion of said program without use of the fixed point processor.

A method implemented in a set of instructions executable by a computer that comprises a floating point unit, the method comprising:

• said computer receiving receiving a program, at least a portion of said program being written for execution on a fixed point processor, said fixed point processor being not available for execution of said program, said portion of said program comprising at least one operand represented in fixed-point representation (hereinafter “fixed-point operand”), said fixed-point representation having a precision identifying a first plurality of bits on a left side of a point and a second plurality of bits on a right side of said point;
• said computer expanding said fixed-point operand into a floating-point representation to obtain a floating-point equivalent;
• said computer receiving in said program an instruction comprising an operation to be performed on the fixed-point operand;
• wherein said instruction comprises overloading of an operator normally used to denote said corresponding floating-point operation;
• said computer using said floating point unit to perform on the floating-point equivalent, at least one floating-point operation that corresponds to the fixed-point operation, yielding at least one floating-point result;
• said computer reducing, based said precision, said at least one floating-point result generated by the floating-point operation into a fixed-point result;
• and
• said computer displaying the fixed point result and receiving instructions for debugging said portion of said program without use of the fixed point processor.

In a computer comprising a floating point unit, a method implemented in a set of instructions executable by said computer, the method comprising:

• said computer receiving at least one operand represented in fixed-point representation (hereinafter “fixed-point operand”);
• said computer expanding said fixed-point operand into a floating-point representation to obtain a floating-point equivalent;
• said computer receiving an instruction comprising a fixed-point operation to be performed on the fixed-point operand by a fixed point processor;
• said computer using said floating point unit to perform on the floating-point equivalent, at least one floating-point operation that corresponds to the fixed-point operation, yielding at least one floating-point result;
• said computer reducing said at least one floating-point result generated by the floating-point operation into a fixed-point result;
• and
• said computer displaying said fixed-point result and receiving instructions to debug a portion of a program comprising said fixed-point operand and said fixed-point operation without use of said fixed-point processor;
• wherein if the fixed-point operation is specified as saturation arithmetic and if said floating-point result is a vector or array, said act of reducing comprises:
• said computer setting a maximum value and a minimum value for a fixed-point result to be obtained from reducing the floating-point result generated by the floating-point operation, based on the precision and signedness of at least said fixed-point operand;
• said computer replacing any negative numbers in the floating-point result with zero;
• said computer replacing any numbers in the floating-point result that are greater than the maximum value with the maximum value;
• said computer replacing any numbers in the floating-point result that are less than the minimum value with the minimum value.

A computer-implemented method implemented in a set of instructions, the computer-implemented method comprising:

• receiving a program, at least a portion of said program being written for execution on a fixed point processor, said fixed point processor being not available for execution of said program, said portion of said program comprising at least one operand representing a real number expressed in fixed-point representation (hereinafter “fixed-point operand”), said fixed-point representation having a precision identifying a first plurality of bits on a left side of a point and a second plurality of bits on a right side of said point;
• said computer expanding said fixed-point operand into a floating-point representation to obtain a floating-point equivalent, said expanding comprising storing in said memory said precision of said fixed-point operand;
• said computer further receiving in said portion of said program an instruction to be performed on the fixed-point operand;
• said computer using said floating point unit to perform on the floating-point equivalent, at least one floating-point operation that corresponds to the fixed-point operation, yielding at least one floating-point result;
• said computer reducing based on kind of said instruction received, said at least one floating-point result generated by the floating-point operation into a fixed-point result;
• and
• said computer displaying said fixed-point result to a programmer to enable said portion of said program to be debugged without use of said fixed point processor.

A computer readable memory encoded with a plurality of objects, each object representing at least one fixed-point number, each object being encoded in a plurality of locations comprising:

• a first location encoded with a value of a signedness property of said fixed-point number;
• a second location encoded with a value of a complexness property of said fixed-point number;
• a plurality of location encoded with values of subproperties of a precision property of said fixed-point number;
• and
• at least one location encoded with a floating-point value of said fixed-point number;
• wherein the memory further comprises instructions that cause a computer to operate floating point hardware to use said floating-point value and display a result of said use thereby to help in debugging at least a portion of a program without use of a fixed point processor.

A memory encoded with a plurality of objects, each object representing at least one fixed-point number, each object being encoded in a plurality of locations comprising:

• a first location encoded with a value of a signedness property of said fixed-point number;
• a second location encoded with a value of a complexness property of said fixed-point number;
• a plurality of locations encoded with values of subproperties of a precision property of said fixed-point number;
• and
• at least one location encoded with a floating-point value of said fixed-point number;
• wherein said precision property further comprises a number of bits to the right of said point in the fixed-point umber as another subproperty;
• wherein the memory further comprises a program written for execution on a fixed point processor, said fixed point processor being not available for execution of said program, said program comprising instructions to:
• use floating-point hardware on the floating-point value in said at least one location to generate a floating-point result;
• and
• display said fixed-point result to a user by use of at least said precision property to enable at least a portion of said program to be debugged without use of said fixed point processor.

A computer that supports floating-point arithmetic, the computer comprising:

• means (hereinafter “receiving means”) for receiving and storing in a memory of said computer a program written for execution on a fixed point processor, said fixed point processor being not available for execution of said program, said program comprising at least one operand represented in fixed-point representation (hereinafter “fixed-point operand”), said fixed-point operand having at least one property selected from a group consisting of (signedness, precision, complexness);
• means, coupled to said receiving means, for expanding said fixed-point operand into a floating-point representation to obtain a floating-point equivalent;
• said program in said memory comprising a fixed-point operation to be performed on the fixed-point operand;
• a floating point unit coupled to the means for expanding to receive therefrom the floating-point equivalent and to generate at least one floating-point result by performance of at least one floating-point operation that corresponds to the fixed-point operation;
• means for reducing said at least one floating-point result generated by the floating-point operation into a fixed-point result;
• and
• means for displaying the fixed-point result and receiving instructions for debugging said program without use of the fixed point processor;
• wherein said memory is coupled to each of said means and said floating point unit, said memory being encoded with a plurality of objects, at least one object representing at least said fixed-point operand, said object being encoded in a plurality of locations comprising:
• a first location encode with a value of a signedness property of said fixed-point operand;
• a second location encode with a value of a complexness property of said fixed-point operand;
• a group of locations encoded with values of subproperties of a precision property of said fixed-point operand;
• and
• at least one location encoded with a floating-point value of said fixed-point operand.

In a computer, a method implemented in a set of instructions executable by said computer, the method comprising:

• said computer receiving a program, at least a portion of said program being written for execution on a fixed point processor, said fixed point processor being not available for execution of said program, said portion of said program comprising at least one operand representing a real number expressed in fixed-point representation (hereinafter “fixed-point operand”), said fixed-point representation having a precision identifying a plurality of first bits of the fixed-point operand on a first side of a point and a plurality of second bits of the fixed-point operand on a second side of the point;
• said computer adding to said program a sequence of instructions to expand said fixed-point operand into a floating-point representation to obtain a floating-point equivalent, said sequence comprising an instruction to store in said memory said precision of said fixed-point operand;
• said computer adding said program at least a first instruction to use a floating point unit to perform on the floating-point equivalent, at least one floating-point operation that corresponds to the fixed-point operation, to yield at least one floating-point result;
• said computer adding to said program at least a second instruction to reduce, based on said precision, said at least one floating-point result generated by the floating-point operation into a fixed-point result;
• and
• said computer displaying said fixed-point result and receiving instructions for debugging said program without use of said fixed point processor.