Synopsys, Inc.

Raghurama Krishna Srigiriraju

Parijat Biswas

Alexandru Seibulescu

Gagan Vishal Jain

Jayant Nagda

In a method for increasing coverage convergence during verification of a design for an IC, symbolic elements can be generated for the variables and the variable expressions in the hardware code of the design and a test bench. Simulation semantics can be modified and local multi-path analysis can be provided to expand symbolic property collection and symbolic element propagation. Modifying simulation semantics can include transformation of conditional statements, flattening of conditions, avoidance of short circuiting logic, and/or symbolic triggering of events. Symbolic elements are propagated through the design and the test bench during multiple simulation runs to collect symbolic properties. Coverage information from the multiple simulation runs is analyzed to identify coverage points to be targeted. For each identified coverage point, the constraints resulting from the collected symbolic properties are solved to generate directed stimuli for the design. These directed stimuli increase the coverage convergence.

Accelerating coverage convergence and debug using symbolic properties and local multi-path analysis

In a method for increasing coverage convergence during verification of a design for an integrated circuit, multiple simulation runs can be performed. Symbolic variables and symbolic expressions can be generated for the variables and the variable expressions in the hardware code of the design and a test bench. Exemplary hardware code can include the hardware description language (HDL) code and/or the hardware verification language (HVL) code. Symbolic properties, which are derived from propagating the symbolic variables and symbolic expressions through the design and the test bench during the multiple simulation runs, can be collected. Coverage information from the multiple simulation runs can be analyzed to identify coverage points to be targeted. At this point, for each identified coverage point, the constraints resulting from the collected symbolic properties can be solved to generate directed stimuli for the design. These directed stimuli can increase the coverage convergence.

Growing community of inventors

Bengaluru, India

Raghurama Krishna Srigiriraju