Quickturn Design Systems, Inc.

Inpa Systems, Inc.

S2c Inc.

I-cube Design Systems Inc.

Pie Design Systems Inc.

Thomas B Huang

Jeong-Tyng Li

Ming-Yang Wang

Robert J Ko

Nang-Ping Chen

Chioumin M Chang

Yih-Chyun Jenq

Mon-Ren Chene

Keith Lofstrom

Dick L Liu

Kenneth S Choi

An integrated prototyping system (IPS) is proposed for verifying and validating an electronic system design (ESD) with hierarchical design elements (HDEs). The IPS has: a) A reprogrammable logic device (RPLD) having an emulation timing base and an RPLD-interface for programming and simulating HDEs under validation while transacting exchanging vectors. The RPLD is also switchably coupled to numerous external peripheral electronic devices (PED), b) An EDA simulator for simulating then verifying selected HDEs while transacting exchanging vectors. The EDA simulator also has a simulator interface; and c) An IPS controller bridging the RPLD and the EDA simulator. The IPS controller has an IPS executive for progressively verifying and validating the ESD. The IPS executive further includes a co-emulation software for jointly and simultaneously running the RPLD and the EDA simulator with an event-based synchronization scheme for interchanging exchanging vectors on demand between the RPLD and the EDA simulator.

Integrated prototyping system for validating an electronic system design

A method for prototyping and validating a customer's electronic system design (ESD) with design data is proposed. The design data is partitioned into hierarchical design elements (HDEs) plus their respective test benches. The ESD couples with customer's customer peripheral devices CPDs via their peripheral interface terminals PITs thus forming interconnected hierarchical system elements (HSEs) interacting with one another according to a functional validation specification. The HSEs form numerous system hierarchy levels (SHLs). The method includes:

Method of progressively prototyping and validating a customer's electronic system design

A method and a system provide a reconfigurable platform for designing and emulating a user design. The method and system facilitates design and emulation of a system-on-a-chip type user design. The netlist of a user design may be included with netlists from customized or optimized third party circuits in an emulation using a platform including a number of field programmable devices. Various customized circuits for specific development activities, such as debugging, performance analysis, and simulator linkage may be configured to interact with the user design.

Scalable reconfigurable prototyping system and method

A memory design is implemented in static memory circuits having a plurality of bidirectional access ports, wherein each port is configured for read or write access. The memory design defines initial contents, depth, width, and bank selection in the memory circuits according to predefined configuration values, as well as, for each access port, whether that access port is configured for read or write. Port access occurs during time slots, which are based on external clock signals and memory circuit access times. Modified memory designs may be implemented such that access ports are accordingly reconfigured.

Method and apparatus for emulating multi-ported memory circuits

A method and a structure provide emulation circuit implemented on a logic block module comprising clocked and unclocked field programmable logic devices (FPGAs). Software modules analyze the target logic circuit and impose delay constraints to require certain storage instances to be implemented on separate FPGAs so as to prevent hold time violation artifacts.

Structure and method for providing reconfigurable emulation circuit

A method and a structure for implementing integrated circuit designs into a plurality of clocked and unclocked reprogrammable logic circuits. Software structures analyze the target logic circuit, form clusters, partitions the integrated circuit design and implement the partitions into the clocked and unclocked reprogrammable logic circuits in order to prevent hold time violation artifacts.

Methods for controlling timing in a logic emulation system

A method of implementing a multi-port memory circuit in the memory resources of configuration logic blocks of programmable logic devices. The multi-port memory circuit to be implemented comprises a memory array having memory locations for storing data, read ports for reading data from the memory array and write ports for writing data to the memory array. Multiple duplications of the memory array are created in order to implement as many read ports and write ports as the multi-port memory circuit being implemented. The memory locations within the duplicate memory arrays are tagged to indicate which memory location had data written therein last so that only the last written data will be read through the various read ports.

Multi-port memory emulation using tag registers

A method and a structure for implementing integrated circuit designs into a plurality of clocked and unclocked reprogrammable logic circuits. Software structures analyze the target logic circuit, form clusters, partition the integrated circuit design and implement the partitions into the clocked and unclocked reprogrammable logic circuits in order to prevent hold time violation artifacts.

Structure and method for providing a reconfigurable emulation circuit

An improved electronic design automation (EDA) system employs field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) for emulating prototype circuit designs. A circuit netlist file is down-loaded to the FPGAs to configure the FPGAs to emulate a functional representation of the prototype circuit. To check whether the circuit netlist is implemented properly, the FPGAs are tested functionally by applying input vectors thereto and comparing the resulting output of the FPGAs to output vectors provided from prior simulation. If the FPGAs fail such vector comparison, the FPGAs are debugged by inserting 'read-back' trigger instructions in the input vectors, preferably corresponding to fail points in the applied vector stream. Modifying the input vectors with such read-back signals causes the internal states of latches and flip-flops in each FPGA to be captured when functional testing is repeated. Such internal state information is useful for debugging the FPGAs, and particularly convenient because no recompilation of the circuit netlist is required. A similar approach which also uses the read-back feature of FPGAs is employed to debug FPGAs coupled to a target system which appears to fail during emulation runs.

Method and apparatus for debugging reconfigurable emulation systems

A bi-directional bus repeater includes two unidirectional bus repeaters connected for retransmitting signals in opposite directions between two buses. When an external bus driver pulls either bus low, one of the unidirectional bus repeaters pulls the other bus low. When the external bus driver allows the bus to rise to the high logic level, the unidirectional bus repeater temporarily supplies a high charging current to the other bus to quickly pull it up. Each unidirectional bus repeater also generates signals indicating when it is actively pulling its output bus up or down and the indicating signals inhibit one unidirectional bus repeater from actively driving its output when the other unidirectional bus repeater is actively driving its output.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Thomas B Huang