Design representation behavioral domain

In the above representation, the starting point for high-level synthesis is a behavioral domain specification at levels above the logic level. We will assume that the behavior is specified in a sequential (procedural, imperative) Hardware Description Language (HDL) such as sequential VHDL. Synchronous systems can be described in terms of a simple model of time using basic time units called control steps (cycles, or states of a finite automaton). The initial design... 

A model of design representation with three domains of description (Behavioral, Structural, and Physical) and multiple levels of abstraction. 

Language Usage. Following the conventions described in our model of representation, the ISPS behavioral domain description is maintained as a pure behavior, represented separately from the structure or physical information. That is, the use of a "+", or operator in ISPS only specifies that the operation must take place on the named values. It does not specify the actual functional units to be used for each of the operations, the memory units in which the values are to be stored, nor does it specify the order in which the operations will take place. Thus, the Workbench has the freedom to design any hardware and control sequence implementation with the proviso that the final implementation s behavior match that specified by the lexical data-flow ordering and the required (NEXT) ordering of the original behavior. 

ThBR87] D.E. Thomas, R.L. Blackburn, J.V. Rajan, Linking the Behavioral and Structural Domains of Representation for Digital System Design, IEEE Trans. CAD, January 1987. 

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