Multi-user server system and method

• US 20040236556A1
• Filed: 05/20/2003
• Published: 11/25/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cadence Design Systems Incorporated (Cadence Group)
• Original Assignee: Verisity Design, Inc. (Cadence Design Systems)
• Inventors: Lin, Sharon Sheau-Pyng
• Granted Patent: US 7,505,891 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/33 Design verification, e.g. functional simulation or model checking

Abstract

The multi-user server technology allows multiple host stations to configure, load, and execute multiple jobs in a reconfigurable hardware unit for emulation purposes, simulation acceleration purposes, and a combination of emulation and simulation in a concurrent manner. The reconfigurable hardware unit includes a plurality of hardware resources (e.g., FPGA chips on slot module boards) for modeling at least a portion of one or more user designed. The server includes a bus arbiter for deciding which one of the host stations will be coupled to the hardware resources via the bus multiplexer. The plurality of hardware resources includes slot modules, which includes one or more boards of FPGA chips. An arbitration decision is made to assign a particular slot(s) to a particular host. A host and its respective assigned slot(s) can communicate with each other while other hosts and their respective assigned slot(s) communication with each other.

Claims

1. A method of executing a plurality of simulation jobs in a simulation system network, the simulation system network including a plurality of client workstations, a bus subsystem, and a simulation server which includes a reconfigurable hardware unit which contains at least one hardware model of at least a portion of at least one user design, comprising:

queuing a first job associated with a first user design in a first client workstation and a second job associated with a second user design in a second client workstation;

receiving a request for access to the reconfigurable hardware unit between the first job and the second job; and

assigning a first resource in the reconfigurable hardware unit to the first client workstation and assigning a second resource in the reconfigurable hardware unit to the second client workstation if the first client workstation wins the arbitration decision.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

configuring the first resource in the reconfigurable hardware unit with the hardware model of the first user design if the arbitration decision resolves in favor of the first job; and

configuring the second resource in the reconfigurable hardware unit with the hardware model of the second user design.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising assigning a priority number for each of the plurality of client workstations.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of assigning includes granting access based on a first-in-time policy.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the first resource includes at least one slot module board and the second resource includes at least one slot module board.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the slot module boards for the first resource and the second resource are not the same.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of queuing includes:

sending a request by the first client workstation to access the reconfigurable hardware unit; and

sending a request by the second client workstation to access the reconfigurable hardware unit.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

identifying a specific first resource by the first client workstation in the reconfigurable hardware unit; and

identifying a specific second resource by the second client workstation in the reconfigurable hardware unit.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the step of sending by the first client workstation includes identifying a specific first resource by the first client workstation in the reconfigurable hardware unit;

and the step of sending by the second client workstation includes identifying a specific second resource by the second client workstation in the reconfigurable hardware unit.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

sending a request for status information of the network, wherein the status information includes information mapping the various resources in the reconfigurable hardware unit to each of the plurality of client workstations.

11. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

sending a request for status information of the network, wherein the status information includes information mapping the various resources in the reconfigurable hardware unit to each of the plurality of client workstations.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

accessing the first resource by the first client workstation and accessing the second resource by the second client workstation concurrently.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein at any given time, transfer of data between the first client workstation and the first resource in the reconfigurable hardware unit occurs independently of the transfer of data between the second client workstation and the second resource in the reconfigurable hardware unit.

14. A multi-user server for allowing a plurality of host stations to configure, load, and execute multiple jobs in a reconfigurable hardware unit, where each job is associated with a user design, and the reconfigurable hardware unit includes a plurality of hardware resources for modeling at least a portion of the user design, comprising:

a bus multiplexer;

a host bus for coupling the plurality of host stations to the bus multiplexer;

a slot bus for coupling the plurality of hardware resources to the bus multiplexer; and

a bus arbiter for deciding which one of the plurality of host stations will be assigned to the plurality of hardware resources.

15. The multi-user server of claim 14 wherein each of the plurality of host stations includes control logic to deliver a request to the simulation server.

16. The multi-user server of claim 14, wherein the plurality of hardware resources includes slot modules, where each slot module includes at least one board of FPGA chips for reconfigurably loading the user design as a hardware model.

17. The multi-user server of claim 15, wherein the plurality of hardware resources includes slot modules, where each slot module includes at least one board of FPGA chips for reconfigurably loading the user design as a hardware model.

18. The multi-user server of claim 17, wherein the request includes a command type and a slot number, the command type including one of a request status and a request slot, and the slot number indicates a particular one or more slot modules.

19. The multi-user server of claim 17, wherein the bus arbiter includes a status logic for delivering status information to the control logic in the host station in response to a request status by the host station.

20. The multi-user server of claim 16, wherein the plurality of host stations includes a first host station and a second host station, and the host bus includes a first host bus and a second host bus, where the first host bus is coupled between the first host station and the bus multiplexer, and the second host bus is coupled between the second host station and the bus multiplexer.

21. The multi-user server of claim 16, wherein the slot modules includes a first slot module and a second slot module, and the slot bus includes a first slot bus and a second slot bus, where the first slot bus is coupled between the first slot module and the bus multiplexer, and the second slot bus is coupled between the second slot module and the bus multiplexer.

22. The multi-user server of claim 20, wherein the slot modules includes a first slot module and a second slot module, and the slot bus includes a first slot bus and a second slot bus, where the first slot bus is coupled between the first slot module and the bus multiplexer, and the second slot bus is coupled between the second slot module and the bus multiplexer.

23. The multi-user server of claim 22, wherein the bus arbiter controls the bus multiplexer to couple the first host bus to the first slot bus, and the bus arbiter controls the bus multiplexer to couple the second host bus to the second slot bus.

24. The multi-user server of claim 23, wherein the data transfer between the first host bus and the first slot bus can occur concurrently with the data transfer between the second host bus and the second slot bus.

25. A multi-user server for allowing a plurality of receiving and responding to requests from a plurality of host stations to model and test a user design, comprising:

a bus multiplexer;

a host bus for coupling the plurality of host stations to the bus multiplexer;

a slot bus for coupling the plurality of hardware resources to the bus multiplexer;

a reconfigurable hardware unit coupled to the slot bus and including a plurality of hardware resources for modeling at least a portion of the user design; and

an arbiter for associating the plurality of host stations to the plurality of hardware resources.

26. The multi-user server of claim 25 wherein each of the plurality of host stations includes control logic to deliver a request to the simulation server.

27. The multi-user server of claim 25, wherein the plurality of hardware resources includes slot modules, where each slot module includes at least one board of FPGA chips for reconfigurably loading the user design as a hardware model.

28. The multi-user server of claim 26, wherein the plurality of hardware resources includes slot modules, where each slot module includes at least one board of FPGA chips for reconfigurably loading the user design as a hardware model.

29. The multi-user server of claim 28, wherein the request includes a command type and a slot number, the command type including one of a request status and a request slot, and the slot number indicates a particular one or more slot modules.

30. The multi-user server of claim 28, wherein the bus arbiter includes a status logic for delivering status information to the control logic in the host station in response to a request status by the host station.

31. The multi-user server of claim 27, wherein the plurality of host stations includes a first host station and a second host station, and the host bus includes a first host bus and a second host bus, where the first host bus is coupled between the first host station and the bus multiplexer, and the second host bus is coupled between the second host station and the bus multiplexer.

32. The multi-user server of claim 27, wherein the slot modules includes a first slot module and a second slot module, and the slot bus includes a first slot bus and a second slot bus, where the first slot bus is coupled between the first slot module and the bus multiplexer, and the second slot bus is coupled between the second slot module and the bus multiplexer.

33. The multi-user server of claim 31, wherein the slot modules includes a first slot module and a second slot module, and the slot bus includes a first slot bus and a second slot bus, where the first slot bus is coupled between the first slot module and the bus multiplexer, and the second slot bus is coupled between the second slot module and the bus multiplexer.

34. The multi-user server of claim 33, wherein the bus arbiter controls the bus multiplexer to couple the first host bus to the first slot bus, and the bus arbiter controls the bus multiplexer to couple the second host bus to the second slot bus, wherein the coupling effectuates communication between the first host bus and the first slot bus independently and concurrently with the communication between the second host bus and the second slot bus.