Monitoring physical parameters in an emulation environment

• US 8,195,446 B2
• Filed: 11/17/2010
• Issued: 06/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mentor Graphics Corporation (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Mentor Graphics Corporation (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Durand, Eric, Joubert, Christophe, Niquet, Christian, Voirin, Virginie
• Primary Examiner(s): Craig, Dwin M
• Assistant Examiner(s): PIERRE LOUIS, ANDRE
• Application Number:
  US12/948,468
• Publication Number:
  US 20110119045A1
• Time in Patent Office: 566 Days
• Field of Search: 703/23, 703/28, 716/106, 716/110, 716/111, 716/136
• US Class Current: 703/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/261 by simulating additional hardware, e.g. fault simulation

Abstract

A method and system is disclosed for monitoring and viewing physical parameters while the emulator is emulating a design. Additionally, the parameters are in real time or substantially real time, such as after a periodic update. In one embodiment, a monitoring portion of the emulator periodically monitors the emulator boards and power supplies for physical information. The physical information is communicated to a workstation for communication to a user. For example, the workstation can display the physical information in a graphical user interface (GUI) that shows which boards are plugged in the system and which slots are empty. In yet another aspect, the user can select a particular board in the system and view communication information, such as data errors, status, link errors, global errors, etc.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring physical parameters associated with an emulation environment used to emulate an Integrated Circuit design, comprising:

emulating the Integrated Circuit design in an emulator;

concurrently during the emulation, receiving physical parameters associated with the emulator wherein receiving physical parameters includes receiving location information of printed circuit boards within the emulator including identifying which slots within the emulator the printed circuit boards are located and which slots are vacant; and

displaying the physical parameters associated with the emulator.

2. The method of claim 1, further including providing an indication which printed circuit boards are functioning properly and which printed circuit boards are not functioning properly.

3. The method of claim 1, further including selecting a printed circuit board within the emulator, requesting error information associated with the selected printed circuit board and displaying the error information in a graphical user interface.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the physical parameters include power supply information including voltage and current levels.

5. The method of claim 1, further including selecting a printed circuit board within the emulator, displaying a view of the printed circuit board including location and functionality of Integrated Circuits thereon.

6. The method of claim 1, further including receiving temperature information associated with the emulator and wherein displaying the physical parameters includes displaying the temperature information.

8. The method of claim 1, further including coupling at least first and second workstations to a single emulator environment, emulating a first design from the first workstation, emulating a second design from the second workstation, and obtaining the physical parameters of the emulator environment during both emulations.

7. The method of 6, wherein the temperature information includes a plurality of temperature points on a printed circuit board within the emulator.

9. An emulation environment, comprising:

a plurality of workstations;

a hardware emulator coupled to the plurality of workstations to emulate one or more different designs simultaneously provided from one or more different workstations; and

a user interface displayable on at least one of the workstations, the user interface displaying physical parameters while the hardware emulator is emulating the designs, wherein the physical parameters include slots within the emulator that printed circuit boards are located to show locations of the printed circuit boards within the emulator.

10. The emulation environment of claim 9, wherein the hardware emulator includes an emulation portion and a monitoring portion, the monitoring portion including a platform maintenance board for obtaining the physical parameters from the emulation portion.

11. The emulation environment of claim 9, wherein the physical parameters include information regarding the location and type of printed circuit boards within the hardware emulator.

12. The emulation environment of claim 9, further including an emulator messaging bus coupled to the user interface through which the physical parameters are received.

13. The emulation environment of claim 11, wherein the physical parameters include which printed circuit boards within the emulator are properly functioning and which are not and wherein the user interface is a graphical user interface.

14. The emulation environment of claim 9, wherein the physical parameters include temperature information within the emulator.

15. The emulation environment of claim 9, wherein the physical parameters include an indication of which ICs on a selected printed circuit board and not properly functioning.

16. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions which when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method, the method comprising:

emulating an Integrated Circuit design in an emulator;

concurrently during the emulation, receiving location information of printed circuit boards within the emulator including identifying which slots within the emulator the printed circuit boards are located and which slots are vacant; and

displaying the location information associated with the emulator.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16, the method further including providing an indication which printed circuit boards are functioning properly and which printed circuit boards are not functioning properly.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16, further including selecting a printed circuit board within the emulator, requesting error information associated with the selected printed circuit board and displaying the error information in a graphical user interface.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16, further including displaying power supply information including voltage and current levels.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16, further including selecting a printed circuit board within the emulator, displaying a view of the printed circuit board including location and functionality of Integrated Circuits thereon.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16, further including receiving temperature information associated with the emulator and further including displaying the temperature information.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 21, wherein the temperature information includes a plurality of temperature points on a printed circuit board within the emulator.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 16, further including coupling at least first and second workstations to a single emulator environment, emulating a first design from the first workstation, emulating a second design from the second workstation, and obtaining physical parameters of the emulator environment during both emulations and displaying the physical parameters.