High-level state machine specification and synthesis

A method and algorithms for exploring the design space between the register-transfer and behavioral levels are presented. The method consists of the specification of a high-level state machine, which combines the advantages of a specific control structure, by means of states and transitions, with the flexibility of behavioral descriptions inside each high-level state. High-level synthesis techniques are used for synthesizing this machine. As a result, the user has control over the final controller implementation and is able to perform high-level tradeoffs between control and data path