Overhead-free polymorphism in network-on-chip implementation of object-oriented models

We unify virtual-method despatch (polymorphism implementation) and network packet-routing operations; virtual-method calls correspond to network packets, and network addresses are allocated such that routing the packet corresponds to dispatching the call. As the run-time routing structure is inherent in network-on-chip platforms, this unification implements polymorphism for free.

1. Introduction

Object-oriented methodology is an approach to narrowing the design productivity gap and to decreasing time-to-market by increasing the design abstraction level. In OO design methodology, polymorphism (and the associated virtual method despatch) is a key feature. However, it implies run-time support for dynamic binding of operations; this imposes performance, area, and power overheads to the design that is known as the major drawback of OO hardware synthesis.