Communication refinement in video systems on chip

Two levels of interfaces are introduced for modules of intellectual property that can be used to create a video system on chip. Application-level transactions are used for programming the functionality of the system. They are refined into system transactions when mapping to the architecture model that underpins our approach. This supports the definition of IPs that target software and/or hardware implementation and can be hooked to "any" bus through the virtual component interface of the VSI Alliance. We implement this approach, including a model for assessing the performance of system transactions, in a system design methodology that is refined in the ESPRIT/OMI COSY project.