openvino/docs/IE_PLUGIN_DG/Intro.md

Overview of Inference Engine Plugin Library

@sphinxdirective

.. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1 :caption: Converting and Preparing Models :hidden:

Implement Plugin Functionality <openvino_docs_ie_plugin_dg_plugin> Implement Executable Network Functionality <openvino_docs_ie_plugin_dg_executable_network> Implement Synchronous Inference Request <openvino_docs_ie_plugin_dg_infer_request> Implement Asynchronous Inference Request <openvino_docs_ie_plugin_dg_async_infer_request> openvino_docs_ie_plugin_dg_plugin_build openvino_docs_ie_plugin_dg_plugin_testing openvino_docs_ie_plugin_detailed_guides openvino_docs_ie_plugin_api_references

@endsphinxdirective

The plugin architecture of the Inference Engine allows to develop and plug independent inference solutions dedicated to different devices. Physically, a plugin is represented as a dynamic library exporting the single CreatePluginEngine function that allows to create a new plugin instance.

Inference Engine Plugin Library

Inference Engine plugin dynamic library consists of several main components:

1. [Plugin class](@ref openvino_docs_ie_plugin_dg_plugin):
   • Provides information about devices of a specific type.
   • Can create an [executable network](@ref openvino_docs_ie_plugin_dg_executable_network) instance which represents a Neural Network backend specific graph structure for a particular device in opposite to the InferenceEngine::ICNNNetwork interface which is backend-independent.
   • Can import an already compiled graph structure from an input stream to an [executable network](@ref openvino_docs_ie_plugin_dg_executable_network) object.
2. [Executable Network class](@ref openvino_docs_ie_plugin_dg_executable_network):
   • Is an execution configuration compiled for a particular device and takes into account its capabilities.
   • Holds a reference to a particular device and a task executor for this device.
   • Can create several instances of [Inference Request](@ref openvino_docs_ie_plugin_dg_infer_request).
   • Can export an internal backend specific graph structure to an output stream.
3. [Inference Request class](@ref openvino_docs_ie_plugin_dg_infer_request):
   • Runs an inference pipeline serially.
   • Can extract performance counters for an inference pipeline execution profiling.
4. [Asynchronous Inference Request class](@ref openvino_docs_ie_plugin_dg_async_infer_request):
   • Wraps the [Inference Request](@ref openvino_docs_ie_plugin_dg_infer_request) class and runs pipeline stages in parallel on several task executors based on a device-specific pipeline structure.

Note

: This documentation is written based on the Template plugin, which demonstrates plugin development details. Find the complete code of the Template, which is fully compilable and up-to-date, at <dldt source dir>/docs/template_plugin.

Detailed guides

• [Build](@ref openvino_docs_ie_plugin_dg_plugin_build) a plugin library using CMake*
• Plugin and its components [testing](@ref openvino_docs_ie_plugin_dg_plugin_testing)
• [Quantized networks](@ref openvino_docs_ie_plugin_dg_quantized_networks)
• [Low precision transformations](@ref openvino_docs_OV_UG_lpt) guide
• [Writing OpenVINO™ transformations](@ref openvino_docs_transformations) guide

API References

• [Inference Engine Plugin API](@ref ie_dev_api)
• [Inference Engine Transformation API](@ref ie_transformation_api)