Monitoring physical parameters in an emulation environment

• US 9,323,632 B2
• Filed: 05/10/2012
• Issued: 04/26/2016
• 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:
  US13/468,645
• Publication Number:
  US 20120226488A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,447 Days
• Field of Search: 703/23, 703/28, 703/27
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 an emulation environment used to emulate an Integrated Circuit design, comprising:

emulating the Integrated Circuit design in an emulator, the emulator including multiple printed circuit boards housed in an emulator chassis, wherein emulating the Integrated Circuit includes mimicking the Integrated Circuit design using programmable logic;

receiving temperature information associated with one or more of the printed circuit boards, wherein each printed circuit board has two or more temperature sensors, a temperature sensor being positioned at a hotter point and a temperature sensor being positioned at a colder point of each printed circuit board;

receiving a selection of a first printed circuit board of the one or more printed circuit boards;

displaying a user interface including the received temperature information for the first printed circuit board, wherein the user interface is a graphical user interface wherein the received temperature information comprises a current temperature at the hotter point and colder point of each printed circuit board, wherein the two or more temperature sensors of each printed circuit board are located at predetermined positions and wherein displaying the temperature information includes displaying temperature information at the predetermined positions, wherein the temperature information includes a maximum and minimum temperature at each predetermined position; and

receiving a selection of a second printed circuit board of the one or more printed circuit boards and displaying the user interface including the received temperature information for the second printed circuit board, while no longer displaying the temperature information for the first printed circuit board.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the temperature information includes current temperatures at the predetermined positions.

3. The method of claim 1, further including displaying in the user interface an amount of current being consumed by the emulator.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the amount of current includes minimum and maximum current levels.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface includes multiple panels, each panel indicating a board type used in the emulator.

6. The method of claim 1, further including providing an indication in the user interface which printed circuit boards are functioning properly and which printed circuit boards are not functioning properly.

7. The method of claim 6, 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 the graphical user interface.

8. The method of claim 1, further including, in response to selection of a printed circuit board within the emulator, displaying a view of the selected printed circuit board including functionality and position of Integrated Circuits thereon.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage having instructions stored thereon for executing a method, the method comprising:

emulating a design in an emulator, the emulator including multiple printed circuit boards that store the design in programmable logic so as to emulate the design;

receiving temperature information associated with one or more of the printed circuit boards, wherein each printed circuit board has two or more temperature sensors, a temperature sensor being positioned at a hotter point and a temperature sensor being positioned at a colder point of each printed circuit board;

receiving a selection of one of the multiple printed circuit boards; and

displaying a user interface including the received temperature information for only the selected printed circuit board, wherein the user interface is a graphical user interface and further including displaying in the graphical user interface information related to an operational capacity of one or more fans being used in the emulator and current information, wherein the current information includes minimum and maximum current levels used, and wherein the received temperature information comprises a current temperature at the hotter point and colder point of at least one of the printed circuit boards.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage of claim 9, wherein the two or more temperature sensors of each printed circuit board are located at predetermined positions and wherein displaying the temperature information includes displaying temperature information at the predetermined positions.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage of claim 10, wherein the temperature information includes a maximum and minimum temperature at the predetermined positions.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage of claim 10, wherein the temperature information includes current temperatures at the predetermined positions.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable non-volatile storage of claim 9, further including displaying in the user interface information related to one or more fans being used in the emulator chassis.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage of claim 13, further including displaying in the user interface information related to a percentage of operational capacity of the one or more fans.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage of claim 9, further including displaying in the user interface an amount of current being consumed by the emulator.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage of claim 15, wherein the amount of current includes minimum and maximum current levels.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage of claim 9, wherein the user interface includes multiple tabs, each tab indicating a board type used in the emulator.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage of claim 9, further including providing an indication in the user interface which printed circuit boards are functioning properly and which printed circuit boards are not functioning properly.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage of claim 18, 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 the user interface.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage of claim 9, further including, in response to selection of a printed circuit board within the emulator, displaying a view of the printed circuit board including functionality and position of Integrated Circuits thereon.