Cadence Design Systems, Inc.

Jerry R Burch

Vigyan Singhal

A method and system for combinational verification tightly integrates multiple verification methods. The present invention performs random simulation on the inputs of two combinational netlists. The nets within the netlists are described as BDDs and divided into classes of cutpoint candidates based upon the signatures produced by the random simulation. Cutpoint candidates within each class are resolved to determine whether the candidates are equivalent. If the nets are likely to be equivalent, BDD composition is performed on the nets. Otherwise, SAT-based analysis is performed on the nets. If either method fails to resolve the cutpoints within an allocated amount of time or resources, then the other method is invoked and information learned by the first method is passed to the second method to assist in the resolution. This process repeats until the cutpoint candidates are resolved. If the cutpoint resolution produces a true negative, then the candidate classes are refined by performing directed simulation on the inputs of the netlists using the witness to the true negative generated by the cutpoint resolution. This directed simulation produces new candidate classes that are resolved as described above. If, after the cutpoint classes are refined, the outputs are in a different class, then the netlists are unequal. If a false negative is found after the cutpoints are resolved, a new cutpoint is created. If the outputs are in the current class, then the two netlists are equal. Otherwise, the cutpoints are further resolved as described above.

Method and system for combinational verification having tight integration of verification techniques

A method and system of latch mapping for performing combinational equivalence checking on a specification and an implementation of a circuit that does not depend on signal names or circuit structure to determine the latch mapping. First, every latch is mapped to every other latch. Then, the resulting mapping is refined until it is semi-inductive. The refinement is performed by randomly producing a state that satisfies the mapping and applying a random input vector to the circuits. The resulting mappings are iteratively compared and new input vectors are applied to the circuits until the greatest fixed point of the refinement is found. Then, it is determined whether the greatest fixed point of refinement forces output equality. If the greatest fixed point does not force output equality, then a bug in a combinational block of the implementation is localized through an interactive procedure. If the greatest fixed point does force output equality, then it is determined whether it also satisfies a reset condition. If implementation latches are not mapped together, then conformance with the reset condition is guaranteed. Otherwise, conformance can be guaranteed only if the implementation latches mapped together are assumed to have the same value in the reset state. The method and system is also extended to cover ternary latch mappings having &ldquo;don't care&rdquo; conditions.

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San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Jerry R Burch