Apparatus and method for verifying a logic function of a semiconductor chip
First Claim
1. An emulator for verifying a logic design of a target chip to be mounted in a target system, comprising:
- a processing engine (PE) for executing a software algorithm corresponding to the logic design of the target chip, said software algorithm having at least one software variable defined therein; and
a target interface engine interfacing with said target system for transmitting/receiving pin signals to/from said target system in response to the execution of said software algorithm by said processing engine, wherein said at least one software variable and said pin signals are time-variant and said processing engine includes means for finding correspondence between said at least one software variable and said pin signals at a predetermined time.
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Abstract
An apparatus and method for verifying a logic function of a semiconductor chip in a logic chip emulation environment where a processing engine and a target interface engine interact with each other. The apparatus in accordance with the present invention generally includes a processing engine for executing a software algorithm corresponding to the logic design of the target chip, and a target interface engine interfacing with the target system for transmitting/receiving pin signals to/from the target system. The software algorithm has one or more software variables, and the transmission/reception of the pin signals by the target interface engine occurs with the execution of the software algorithm by the processing engine. The software variable and the pin signals are time-variant with the execution of the algorithm. The processing engine comprises means for finding correspondence between the software variables and the pin signals at a predetermined time, so that the values of the software variables and the values of the hardware pin signals corresponding in time thereto can be monitored in synchronization with each other.
79 Citations
40 Claims
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1. An emulator for verifying a logic design of a target chip to be mounted in a target system, comprising:
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a processing engine (PE) for executing a software algorithm corresponding to the logic design of the target chip, said software algorithm having at least one software variable defined therein; and
a target interface engine interfacing with said target system for transmitting/receiving pin signals to/from said target system in response to the execution of said software algorithm by said processing engine, wherein said at least one software variable and said pin signals are time-variant and said processing engine includes means for finding correspondence between said at least one software variable and said pin signals at a predetermined time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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17. An emulator for verifying a logic design of a target chip to be mounted in a target system, comprising:
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a processing engine (PE) for executing a software algorithm corresponding to the logic design of the target chip, said software algorithm having at least one software variable defined therein; and
a target interface engine interfacing with said target system for transmitting/receiving pin signals to/from said target system in response to the execution of said software algorithm by said processing engine, wherein said at least one software variable and said pin signals are time-variant, said processing engine comprises a first means for tracking time-varying changes in said at least one software variable, and said target interface engine comprises a second means operatively coupled to said first means for tracking time-varying changes in said pin signals.
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32. A method for verifying a logic design of a target chip to be mounted in a target system, comprising the steps of:
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executing a software algorithm corresponding to the logic design of the target chip, said software algorithm having at least one software variable whose value is time-variant with the execution of said software algorithm;
generating pin signals to be transmitted to said target system in response to the execution of said software algorithm, the values of said pin signals being time-variant with the execution of said software algorithm; and
providing a temporal history for changes in said at least one software variable and said pin signals. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39)
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40. An emulator for verifying a logic design of a target chip to be mounted in a target system, comprising:
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means for executing a software algorithm corresponding to the logic design of the target chip with at least one software variable present in said software algorithm and for transmitting/receiving pin signals to/from said target system in response to the execution of said software algorithm, wherein said at least one software variable and said pin signals are time-variant with the execution of said software algorithm; and
means for recording changes in said at least one software variable and said pin signals with respect to time for a predetermined period of time.
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Specification