Abstract Machine Livelock Checking for Hardware Verification

The patent divides the entire design into multiple cones of influence (COI), each associated with a specific finite state machine (FSM). Instead of analyzing the whole design at once, the system segments the verification task into smaller, manageable COI portions. This allows livelock checking to be performed on individual COI segments independently, reducing computational complexity while maintaining accuracy for each segment.

The patent extracts only the relevant state variables and sequential elements that form each cone of influence, separating them from the rest of the design. By taking out only the necessary components (FSM and its COI) for analysis, the system reduces the verification scope to manageable subsets while preserving the integrity of livelock detection within those subsets.

The patent applies segmentation by dividing the design into multiple cones of influence, each verifiable independently using standard formal verification tools. This segmentation enables the system to scale to large designs with hundreds of thousands of sequential elements by processing multiple small COI segments rather than one large entire design, thus improving scalability while maintaining implementation simplicity through use of existing tools.

The patent performs partial action by verifying only the relevant cone of influence for each FSM rather than the entire design. This partial verification approach is sufficient to detect livelocks affecting specific FSMs without requiring exhaustive analysis of all design elements, thereby improving scalability while keeping the implementation approach simple and manageable.