VIRTUAL MACHINE INTERFACE FOR HARDWARE RECONFIGURABLE AND SOFTWARE PROGRAMMABLE PROCESSORS

The present invention provides a virtual machine interface (VMI) (307) and an application programming interface (API) (303) usable in conjunction with a reconfigurable wireless network communication apparatus (311). The reconfigurable wireless network communication apparatus comprises a plurality of hardware kernels. The apparatus can be reconfigured to support different or modified communication protocols over time. The VMI (307) comprised a library of software objects. By configuring VMI software objects, a programmer selects the communication protocol used by the reconfigurable wireless network communication apparatus. The API (303) of the present invention provides higher level management of the communication protocol used by a reconfigurable wireless network communication apparatus. The API comprises a library of high level software objets that further abstract hardware details of the apparatus. The present invention provides a virtual machine interface (VMI) and an application programming interface (API) usable in conjunction with a reconfigurable wireless network communication apparatus. The reconfigurable wireless network communication apparatus comprises a plurality of hardware kernels. The apparatus can be reconfigured to support different or modified communication protocols over time. The VMI comprises a library of software objects. By configuring VMI software objects, a programmer selects the communication protocol used by the reconfigurable wireless network communication apparatus. The API of the present invention provides higher level management of the communication protocol used by a reconfigurable wireless network communication apparatus. The API comprises a library of high level software objets that further abstract hardware details of the apparatus. La présente invention concerne une interface de machine virtuelle et une interface de programmation d'application (API) utilisable avec un appareil de communication de réseau radio reconfigurable. Cet appareil de communication de réseau radio reconfigurable comprend une pluralité de noyaux matériel. On peut reconfigurer cet appareil de façon qu'il prenne en charge des protocoles de communication différents ou modifiés au fil du temps. Cette interface de machine virtuelle comprend une bibliothèque d'objets logiciel. En configurant des objets logiciel de cette interface de machine virtuelle, un programmeur sélectionne le protocole de communication utilisé par l'appareil de communication de résea