Netspeed Systems

Other

Pier Giorgio Raponi

Sailesh Kumar

Eric Norige

Nishant Rao

Methods and example implementations described herein are generally directed to a System on Chip (SoC) design and verification system and method that constructs SoC from functional building blocks circuits while concurrently taking into account numerous chip level design aspects along with the generation of a simulation environment for design verification. An aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method for generating a System on Chip (SoC) from a floor plan having one or more integration descriptions. The method includes the steps of generating one or more connections between the integration descriptions of the floor plan based at least on a traffic specification, and conducting a design check process on the floor plan. If the design check process on the floor plan is indicative of passing the design check process, then the method generates the SoC according to the one or more connections generated between the integration descriptions.

System on chip (SoC) builder

Methods and example implementations described herein are generally directed to repository of integration description of hardware intellectual property (IP) for NoC construction and SoC integration. An aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method for managing a repository of hardware intellectual property (IP) for Network-on-Chip (NoC)/System-on-Chip (SoC) construction. The method includes the steps of storing one or more integration descriptions of the hardware IP in the repository, selecting at least one integration description as a parsed selection from said one or more integration descriptions of the hardware IP for incorporation in the NoC/SoC, and generating the NoC/SoC at least from the parsed selection.

Repository of integration description of hardware intellectual property for NoC construction and SoC integration

A system and method for automatic crossbar generation and router connections for Network-on-Chip (NoC) topology generation is disclosed. Aspects of the present disclosure relate to methods, systems, and computer readable mediums for generating topology for a given SoC by significantly improving system efficiency by accurately indicating the best possible positions and configurations for hosts and ports within the hosts, along with indicating system level routes to be taken for traffic flows using the NoC interconnect architecture. Aspects of the present disclosure further relate to determining optimal positions of ports within hosts so as to enable low latency and higher message transmission efficiency between the hosts. In yet another aspect, a computationally efficient NoC topology is generated based on allocation of routers and NoC channels so as to identify most efficient routes for various system flows between hosts.

Automatic crossbar generation and router connections for network-on-chip (NOC) topology generation

Methods, systems, and non-transitory computer readable medium for automatically characterizing performance of a System-on-Chip (SoC) and/or Network-on-Chip (NoC) with respect to latency and throughput attributes of one or more traffic flows/profiles under varying traffic load conditions. The characterization of performance may involve a plot representative of latency and throughput, depending on the desired implementation.

Automatic performance characterization of a network-on-chip (NOC) interconnect

The present disclosure is directed to system-on-chip (SoC) optimization through transformation and generation of a network-on-chip (NoC) topology. The present disclosure enables transformation from physical placement to logical placement to satisfy bandwidth requirements while maintaining lowest area and lowest routing with minimum cost (wiring and buffering) and latency. In an aspect, method according to the present application includes the steps of receiving at least a floor plan description of an System-on-Chips (SoCs), transforming said floor plan description into at least one logical grid layout of one or more rows and one or more columns, optimizing a number of said one or more rows and said one or more columns based at least on any or combination of a power, an area, or a performance to obtain an optimized transformed logical grid layout, and generating said Network-on-Chip (NoC) topology at least from said optimized transformed logical grid layout.

System-on-chip (SoC) optimization through transformation and generation of a network-on-chip (NoC) topology

In example implementations, the specification is processed to determine the characteristics of the NoC to be generated, the characteristics of the flow (e.g. number of hops, bandwidth requirements, type of flow such as request/response, etc.), flow mapping decision strategy (e.g., limit on number of new virtual channels to be constructed, using of existing VCs, yx/xy mapping), and desired strategy to be used for how the flows are to be mapped to the network. In such processing, the machine learning algorithm can provide a determination as to if a flow is acceptable or not in view of the specification (e.g., via a Q score). In example implementations, the machine learning decisions can be applied on a flow by flow basis, and can involve supervised learning and unsupervised learning algorithms.

System and method for network on chip construction through machine learning

Example implementations described herein are directed to systems and methods for generating a Network on Chip (NoC), which can involve determining a plurality of traffic flows from a NoC specification; grouping the plurality of traffic flows into a plurality of groups; utilizing a first machine learning algorithm to determine a sorting order on each of the plurality of groups of traffic flows; generating a list of traffic flows for NoC construction from the plurality of groups of traffic flows based on the sorting order; utilizing a second machine learning algorithm to select one or more mapping algorithms for each group of the plurality of groups of traffic flows for NoC construction; and generating the NoC based on a mapping from the selection of the one or more mapping algorithms.

Systems and methods for NoC construction

In an aspect, the present disclosure provides a method that comprises automatic generation of a NoC from specified topological information based on projecting NoC elements of the NoC onto a grid layout. In an aspect, the specified topological information, including specification of putting constraints on positions/locations of NoC elements and links thereof, can be input by a user in real space, and can then be projected on the grid layout.

Generation of network-on-chip layout based on user specified topological constraints

The present disclosure is directed to extracting features from a NoC for machine learning construction. Example implementations include a method for generating a Network on Chip (NoC), wherein the method can extract at least one feature from a NoC specification to derive at least one of: grid features, traffic features and topological features associated with the NoC. The method can perform a process on the at least one of the grid features, the traffic features and the topological features associated with the NoC to determine at least one of an evaluation of at least one mapping strategy selected from a plurality of mapping strategies of the NoC based on a quality metric, and the selection of the at least one mapping strategy is based on the quality metric. The method can further perform generate the NoC based on the process.

Extracting features from a NoC for machine learning construction

The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods for connecting hosts to any router by the use of bridges. Example implementations described herein are directed to determining connections between routers and hosts based on the topology of the NoC and cost functions. Unused routers may also be removed from the NoC configuration and unused directional host ports of routers may be utilized to connect hosts together depending on a cost function and the desired implementation.

Systems and methods for selecting a router to connect a bridge in the network on chip (NoC)

The present disclosure relates system and method for automatic assignment of power domain and voltage domain to one or more SoC and/or NoC elements based on one or a combination of NoC and/or SoC specification/design, traffic specification, connectivity between SoC hosts that the NoC element in context is a part of, power specification (power domain and voltage domain of each host) of the hosts/SoC, and power profile(s) applicable for the NoC element in context. In another example implementation, power domain and voltage domain can be assigned to each SoC and/or NoC element based on pre-defined constraints and with an objective of reducing/minimizing static power consumption, reducing/minimizing hardware area, or identifying a tradeoff between the two parameters.

Automatic power domain and voltage domain assignment to system-on-chip agents and network-on-chip elements

Example implementations described herein are directed to a consolidated specification with information to generate and optimize the NoC. The consolidated specification can also facilitate the generation of traffic trace files. Based on the trace files, performance simulation where packets are injected in the NoC can be conducted. The consolidated specification can include parameters for bandwidth, traffic, jitter, dependency information, and attribute information depending on the desired implementation.

Transactional traffic specification for network-on-chip design

Aspects of the present disclosure are directed to methods, systems, and non-transitory computer readable mediums for selective visualization and performance characterization of one or more transactions/messages or subsets of transaction/message of a System-on-Chip (SoC) and/or Network-on-Chip (NoC), with respect to latency, throughput, packet size, data size, hop-to-hop latency breakdown, load of one or more channels, power states of one or more elements of the NoC system, transaction data, among other like performance attributes.

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Pier Giorgio Raponi