Extending the SystemC synthesis subset by object-oriented features

In this article we present an approach to object-oriented hardware design and synthesis based on SystemC. We give an introduction to an extended SystemC synthesis subset which we propose, and, in particular, its object-oriented features. We will also briefly outline our basic synthesis concepts for object-oriented hardware specifications. Finally, we present some examples for the application of the extended synthesis subset, which are directly processable by a first synthesis tool prototype which we have developed for this purpose.