Dynamically tracking data values in a configurable IC

• US 8,412,990 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2007
• Issued: 04/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Altera Corporation (Intel Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Tabula Incorporated
• Inventors: Hutchings, Brad, Teig, Steven
• Primary Examiner(s): Bhatia, Ajay
• Assistant Examiner(s): GANDHI, DIPAKKUMAR B
• Application Number:
  US11/769,683
• Publication Number:
  US 20090002020A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,106 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 714/725
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/31705 Debugging aspects, e.g. using test circuits for debugging, using dedicated debugging test circuits generation of test sequences therefor G01R31/31835, using scan test therefor G01R31/318544
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/318519 Test of field programmable gate arrays [FPGA]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/331 with hardware acceleration, e.g. by using field programmable gate array [FPGA] or emulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/333 Design for testability [DFT], e.g. scan chain or built-in self-test [BIST]

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a method of dynamically tracking data values in a configurable integrated circuit (IC). The method, during a run time of the configurable IC, receives a request for a data value and dynamically configures the configurable IC to monitor the data value. In some embodiments, the method, in dynamically configuring the configurable IC, dynamically configures a debug network of the configurable IC. In some such embodiments, the method, in dynamically configuring the configurable IC, further dynamically configures a set of configurable routing circuits of the configurable IC. In some embodiments the configuration is performed while the IC is implementing a user design circuit.

Claims

1. A method of dynamically tracking data values in an integrated circuit (IC) comprising configurable circuits for configurably performing a plurality of operations, the method comprising:

while a first plurality of configurable circuits is performing a particular user design, receiving a user request for a data value being produced by a set of configurable circuits from the first plurality of configurable circuits for the particular user design; and

without modifying a configured set of operations of the first plurality of configurable circuits, dynamically configuring a second plurality of configurable circuits of said IC according to said received user request to monitor said data value while the first plurality of configurable circuits is performing the particular user design.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second plurality of configurable circuits of the IC are part of a debug network for tracking data values in the IC.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising retrieving the requested data value and outputting the retrieved data value from the IC through the debug network.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said data value is a first data value being produced by a first set of configurable circuits for the particular user design, wherein dynamically configuring the second plurality of configurable circuits comprises configuring the debug network from monitoring a second data value being produced by a second set of configurable circuits for the particular user design to monitoring the first data value after said request is received.

5. The method of claim 2,

wherein the first plurality of configurable circuits comprise a plurality of configurable logic circuits for configurably performing a plurality of functions and a plurality of configurable routing circuits for configurably connecting the plurality of configurable logic circuits,

wherein said dynamic configuration comprises changing configuration of at least one configurable routing circuit to route the monitored data value from a congested area of the debug network to an uncongested area of the debug network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the configurable circuits in the second plurality of configurable circuits is part of a network for reading said data value to be monitored.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the network passes said monitored data value to a trace buffer.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the network comprises a transport network for passing said monitored data value to the trace buffer.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the data value is an output of a particular circuit element.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the particular circuit element is a logic element.

11. The method of claim 9, where the particular circuit element is a storage element.

12. A method of dynamically tracking data values in a configurable integrated circuit (IC), the method comprising:

while a first plurality of configurable circuits of the configurable IC is performing a particular user design, receiving a request for a data value produced by a first set of configurable circuits; and

dynamically configuring a second plurality of configurable circuits of said configurable IC to monitor said data value without making changes to the first plurality of configurable circuits, wherein said dynamic configuration is done in less than one hundred milliseconds.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said dynamically configuring the second plurality of configurable circuits is performed while said first plurality of configurable circuits is operating to implement the particular user design.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said second plurality of configurable circuits is part of a debug network for tracking data values in the IC.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising retrieving the requested data value and outputting the retrieved data value from the IC through the debug network.

16. A method of dynamically tracking data values in a configurable integrated circuit (IC), the method comprising:

while a first plurality of configurable circuits of the configurable IC is performing a particular user design, receiving a request for a data value produced by the first plurality of configurable circuits; and

dynamically configuring a second plurality of configurable circuits of said configurable IC to monitor said data value while the first plurality of configurable circuits of the configurable IC is performing the particular user design, wherein said dynamic configuration is done in less than one minute.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the data value is produced by the first plurality of configurable circuits while operating to implement the particular user design, wherein said dynamically configuring the second plurality of configurable circuits is performed while said first plurality of configurable circuits is operating to implement the particular user design.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said second plurality of configurable circuits is part of a debug network for tracking data values in the IC.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising retrieving the requested data value and outputting the retrieved data value from the IC through the debug network.

20. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program that dynamically tracks data values in an integrated circuit (IC) comprising (i) a plurality of configurable circuits for configurably performing a plurality of operations and (ii) a debug network for monitoring said data values, said program executable by one or more processing units, the program comprising sets of instructions for:

monitoring a first data value produced by a first set of configurable circuits of the plurality of configurable circuits;

receiving a request for monitoring a second data value while the first set of configurable circuits is performing a particular user-defined design, said second data value being produced by a second set of configurable circuits of the plurality of configurable circuits; and

dynamically configuring, without interrupting operations of the particular user-defined design performed by the first and second sets of configurable circuits, said debug network to monitor said second data value according to the received request.

21. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 20, wherein the set of instructions for dynamically configuring comprises a set of instructions for supplying, through the debug network, configuration data to reconfigure a third set of configurable circuits of the debug network.

22. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 20, wherein said program further comprises a set of instructions for using the debug network to retrieve the requested second data value from the second set of configurable circuits and output the retrieved second data value from the IC.

23. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 20, wherein the set of instructions for dynamically configuring the debug network comprises a set of instructions for configuring the debug network from monitoring the first data value being produced by the first set of configurable circuits in the particular user-defined design to monitoring the second data value after said request is received.

24. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 20, wherein the set of instructions for dynamically configuring comprises a set of instructions for supplying new configuration packets through a configurable network to the debug network.

25. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program for dynamically tracking data values in a configurable integrated circuit (IC), said program comprising sets of instructions for execution by an electronic component, the sets of instructions comprising:

receiving a request for a data value produced by the configurable IC while the configurable IC is performing a particular user design; and

dynamically configuring, without interrupting operations of the particular user-defined design performed by the configurable IC, said configurable IC to monitor said data value, wherein said dynamic configuration is done in less than one second.

26. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 25, wherein the data value is produced by a first plurality of configurable circuits while operating to implement the particular user design, wherein the set of instructions for dynamically configuring the IC comprises a set of instructions for dynamically configuring a second plurality of configurable circuits of the IC according to the request for the data value to monitor said data value, wherein said set of instructions for dynamically configuring the second plurality of configurable circuits is performed while said first plurality of configurable circuits is operating to implement the particular user design.

27. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 26, wherein said second plurality of configurable circuits is part of a debug network for tracking data values in the IC, said program further comprising a set of instructions for retrieving the requested data value and outputting the retrieved data value from the IC through the debug network.

28. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing a program for dynamically tracking data values in a configurable integrated circuit (IC), said program comprising sets of instructions for execution by an electronic component, the sets of instructions comprising:

receiving a request for a data value while a first plurality of configurable circuits of the configurable IC is performing a particular user design; and

dynamically configuring a second plurality of configurable circuits of said configurable IC to monitor said data value without making changes to the first plurality of configurable circuits, wherein said dynamic configuration is done in less than one hundred millisecond.

29. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 28, wherein the data value is produced by the first plurality of configurable circuits while operating to implement the particular user design, wherein the set of instructions for dynamically configuring the second plurality of configurable circuits is performed while said first plurality of configurable circuits is operating to implement the particular user design.

30. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 29, wherein said second plurality of configurable circuits is part of a debug network for tracking data values in the IC, said program further comprising a set of instructions for retrieving the requested data value and outputting the retrieved data value from the IC through the debug network.

31. A method of dynamically tracking data values of circuit elements in an integrated circuit (IC) comprising first and second pluralities of configurable circuits for configurably performing a plurality of operations, the first plurality of configurable circuits comprising first and second sets of configurable circuits, the method comprising:

monitoring a first set of data values of the first set of configurable circuits while the first plurality of configurable circuits of said IC is performing a particular user design;

receiving a selection of said second set of configurable circuits; and

while the first plurality of configurable circuits is performing the particular user design, dynamically configuring the second plurality of configurable circuits to gather a second set of data values from said second set of configurable circuits without modifying a configured set of operations of said first plurality of configurable circuits.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein said first set of configurable circuits are chosen for monitoring by a first set of configuration data, wherein said second set of configurable circuits are chosen for monitoring by a second set of configuration data.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the second plurality of the configurable circuits gathering the second set of data values is part of a debug network of said IC.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein configuring said IC to gather said second set of data values comprises configuring said debug network to monitor said second set of data values.

35. The method of claim 31, wherein said selection of the second set of configurable circuits is a user selection.

36. The method claim of 31, wherein monitoring said first set of data values comprises configuring the second plurality of configurable circuits to gather said first set of data values from said first set of configurable circuits.