Managing the configuration and functionality of a semiconductor design

• US 9,171,114 B2
• Filed: 01/30/2013
• Issued: 10/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Synopsys Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Synopsys Incorporated
• Inventors: Hakewill, James Robert-Howard, Khan, Mohammed Noshad, Plowman, Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): Siek, Vuthe
• Application Number:
  US13/754,744
• Publication Number:
  US 20130152031A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,000 Days
• Field of Search: 716/102, 716/103, 716/104, 716/106, 716/111, 703/13, 703/14
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/00 Computer-aided design [CAD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/30 Circuit design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/327 Logic synthesis; Behaviour synthesis, e.g. mapping logic, HDL to netlist, high-level language to RTL or netlist
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/30145 Instruction analysis, e.g. decoding, instruction word fields

Abstract

A method of managing the configuration, design parameters, and functionality of an integrated circuit (IC) design using a hardware description language (HDL). Instructions can be added, subtracted, or generated by the designer interactively during the design process, and customized HDL descriptions of the IC design are generated through the use of scripts based on the user-edited instruction set and inputs. The customized HDL description can then be used as the basis for generating “makefiles” for purposes of simulation and/or logic level synthesis. The method further affords the ability to generate an HDL model of a complete device, such as a microprocessor or DSP. A computer program implementing the aforementioned method and a hardware system for running the computer program are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of generating at least a portion of an integrated circuit design, the method comprising:

providing a user with an integrated circuit design for a processor or processor peripheral device, the integrated circuit design described by a hardware description language model;

assigning default values to a plurality of design parameters from a set of design parameters for the hardware description language model, the plurality of design parameters including at least a cache size parameter and a parameter indicating either to include or not include in the integrated circuit design an interface to memory external to the processor or processor peripheral device;

providing a graphical user interface (GUI) displaying a representation of the cache size parameter and a representation of the parameter indicating either to include or not include in the integrated circuit design the interface to memory external to the processor or processor peripheral device;

receiving, via the GUI, one or more inputs from the user for at least one of the set of design parameters to customize the integrated circuit design responsive to assigning the default values, the received set of design parameters including a cache size and an indication to include the interface to memory in the integrated circuit design;

displaying, via the GUI, a plurality of memory extensions available to an extension algorithm for inclusion in the integrated circuit design based on the indication to include the interface to memory in the integrated circuit design, the plurality of memory extensions including a load and storage memory controller, an instruction fetch memory controller, a host interface for communication with the processor or processor peripheral device, an arbitration unit for memory access, and a random access memory sequencer;

receiving, via the GUI, a selection of one or more of the plurality of memory extensions for inclusion in the integrated circuit design;

determining, using the extension algorithm, the one or more of the plurality of memory extensions that were selected via the GUI; and

generating, by a computer, an updated hardware description language model for the integrated circuit design based on the received set of design parameters and the hardware description language model, wherein the processor or processor peripheral device is fabricated based at least in part on the updated hardware description language model.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

verifying an integrated circuit synthesized from the updated hardware description language model.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the integrated circuit is synthesized on a field programmable gate array.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the received set of design parameters further includes at least one of an overall device or system configuration, width of an external memory system data bus, cache type, a clock period, a clock skew, a size of external memory space to be cached, or a processor cache length.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the processor or processor peripheral device comprises a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, and the hardware description language model comprises a VHDL model.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing a first computer program to write a second computer program, the second program configured to perform a specific task based at least in part on the one or more inputs from the user; and

executing the second program to perform the specific task.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the specific task comprises one selected from the group consisting of generating a simulation makefile for a simulation of the integrated circuit design, generating a synthesis makefile for a synthesis of the integrated circuit design.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

evaluating an acceptability of the updated hardware description language model using test code.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

testing the updated hardware description language through simulation or synthesis using test code to generate an output;

receiving one or more additional inputs from the user responsive to determining that the output does not meet performance criteria; and

generating a second customized hardware description language model based on the additional inputs.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically generating the updated hardware description language model comprises:

receiving an identification of a location of one or more library files that provide at least one prototype description for the integrated circuit design; and

generating the updated hardware description language model based at least in part on the at least one prototype description.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein generating the updated hardware description language model comprises:

modifying the at least one prototype description to include substituted values for values included in the at least one prototype description based at least in part on the at least one received design parameter.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more inputs are received from the user in a non-description language format.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the GUI comprises:

producing a plurality of questions regarding the cache size parameter and the parameter indicating either to include or not include in the interface to memory external to the processor or peripheral device in the integrated circuit design; and

wherein the one or more inputs from the user received from the GUI are answers to the plurality of questions.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a plurality of types of builds for the integrated circuit design, each type of build associated with different design parameters; and

receiving a selection of one of the plurality of types of builds for the integrated circuit design.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the GUI comprises:

displaying, via the GUI, a plurality of types of cache available for inclusion in the integrated circuit design, the plurality of types of cache including a standard cache, a virtual cache resizable via software, and mixed code random access memory; and

receiving, via the GUI, a selection of one of the plurality of types of cache for the integrated circuit design.

13. A computer program product for generating at least a portion of an integrated circuit design, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions, the instructions when executed by a computer system are configured to:

provide a user with an integrated circuit design for a processor or processor peripheral device, the integrated circuit design described by a hardware description language model;

assign default values to a plurality of design parameters from a set of design parameters for the hardware description language model, the plurality of design parameters including at least a cache size parameter and a parameter indicating either to include or not include in the integrated circuit design an interface to memory external to the processor or processor peripheral device;

provide a graphical user interface (GUI) displaying a representation of the cache size parameter and a representation of the parameter indicating either to include or not include in the integrated circuit design the interface to memory external to the processor or processor peripheral device;

receive, via the GUI, one or more inputs from the user for at least one of the set of design parameters to customize the integrated circuit design responsive to assigning the default values, the received set of design parameters including a cache size and an indication to include the interface to memory in the integrated circuit design;

display, via the GUI, a plurality of memory extensions available to an extension algorithm for inclusion in the integrated circuit design based on the indication to include the interface to memory in the integrated circuit design, the plurality of memory extensions including a load and storage memory controller, an instruction fetch memory controller, a host interface for communication with the processor or processor peripheral device, an arbitration unit for memory access, and a random access memory sequencer;

receive, via the GUI, a selection of one or more of the plurality of memory extensions for inclusion in the integrated circuit design;

determine, using the extension algorithm, the one or more of the plurality of memory extensions that were selected via the GUI;

generate an updated hardware description language model for the integrated circuit design based on the received set of design parameters and the hardware description language model, wherein the processor or processor peripheral device is fabricated based at least in part on the updated hardware description language model.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, the instructions when executed by the computer system are further configured to:

verify an integrated circuit synthesized from the updated hardware description language model.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the received set of design parameters further includes at least one of an overall device or system configuration, width of an external memory system data bus, cache type, a clock period, a clock skew, a size of external memory space to be cached, or a processor cache length.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the processor or processor peripheral device comprises a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, and the hardware description language model comprises a VHDL model.

17. The computer program product of claim 13, the instructions when executed by the computer system are further configured to:

test the updated hardware description language through simulation or synthesis using test code to generate an output;

receive one or more additional inputs from the user responsive to determining that the output does not meet performance criteria; and

generate a second customized hardware description language model based on the additional inputs.

18. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein generating the updated hardware description language model comprises:

receiving an identification of a location of one or more library files that provide at least one prototype description for the integrated circuit design; and

generating the updated hardware description language model based at least in part on the at least one prototype description.

19. A computer system for generating at least a portion of an integrated circuit design, the computer system comprising:

a computer processor; and

a computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions, the instructions when executed by the computer processor are configured to;

provide a user with an integrated circuit design for a processor or processor peripheral device, the integrated circuit design described by a hardware description language model;

assign default values to a plurality of design parameters from a set of design parameters for the hardware description language model, the plurality of design parameters including at least a cache size parameter and a parameter indicating either to include or not include in the integrated circuit design an interface to memory external to the processor or processor peripheral device;

provide a graphical user interface (GUI) displaying a representation of the cache size parameter and a representation of the parameter indicating either to include or not include in the integrated circuit design the interface to memory external to the processor or processor peripheral device;

receive, via the GUI, one or more inputs from the user for at least one of the set of design parameters to customize the integrated circuit design responsive to assigning the default values, the received set of design parameters including a cache size and an indication to include the interface to memory in the integrated circuit design;

display, via the GUI, a plurality of memory extensions available to an extension algorithm for inclusion in the integrated circuit design based on the indication to include the interface to memory in the integrated circuit design, the plurality of memory extensions including a load and storage memory controller, an instruction fetch memory controller, a host interface for communication with the processor or processor peripheral device, an arbitration unit for memory access, and a random access memory sequencer;

receive, via the GUI, a selection of one or more of the plurality of memory extensions for inclusion in the integrated circuit design;

determine, using the extension algorithm, the one or more of the plurality of memory extensions that were selected via the GUI; and

generate an updated hardware description language model for the integrated circuit design based on the received set of design parameters and the hardware description language model, wherein the processor or processor peripheral device is fabricated based at least in part on the updated hardware description language model.

23. A computer-implemented method of designing an integrated circuit from a hardware description language model, the method comprising:

displaying, via a graphical user interface display (GUI), (i) a representation of a cache size parameter, (ii) a representation of a parameter indicating either to include or not include in the integrated circuit an interface to memory external to the integrated circuit, and (iii) a plurality of memory extensions available to an extension algorithm for inclusion in the integrated circuit responsive to the parameter indicating inclusion of the interface to memory in the integrated circuit, the plurality of memory extensions including a load and storage memory controller, an instruction fetch memory controller, a host interface for communication with the processor or processor peripheral device, an arbitration unit for memory access, and a random access memory sequencer; and

generating, by a computer, an updated hardware description language model for the integrated circuit based on the hardware description language model and a set of design parameters received via the GUI, wherein the GUI is updated to display (i) a selected representation of a value for a cache size parameter and (ii) a selected one or more of a plurality of memory extensions available to the extension algorithm for inclusion in the integrated circuit, wherein the integrated circuit is fabricated based at least in part on the updated hardware description language model.