Protocol Probes for Verification Resource Optimization
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Verification Intellectual Property (VIP) blocks in electronic design automation consume significant processing resources and hardware capacity, limiting their practical use for complex functionality checks, such as distributed state machines and communication protocols, due to performance and resource tradeoffs.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of protocol probes within a verification environment that capture and bundle transactions based on message exchanges over an interconnect, allowing for efficient protocol-level analysis and system-level verification without the need for extensive resource utilization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If Verification Intellectual Property (VIP) blocks are used for complex functionality checks, then verification capability is improved, but processing resources and hardware capacity are excessively consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The verification system is segmented into multiple protocol probes, each responsible for monitoring specific messages and transactions according to different protocols. This divides the complex verification task into smaller, manageable units that consume fewer resources individually while maintaining comprehensive verification capability collectively.
Solution Approach 2:
Protocol probes act as intermediary components between the messages being transmitted and the verification analysis. These probes intercept, monitor, and bundle transactions before they reach the full verification system, reducing the resource burden on the main verification infrastructure while preserving verification thoroughness.
2Productivity
If protocol probes are implemented to monitor and bundle transactions, then verification capacity is enhanced, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The protocol probes are designed with multi-functionality, capable of monitoring messages, identifying transactions, bundling related transactions, and outputting verification data according to multiple different protocols simultaneously. This universal approach increases verification capacity without proportionally increasing system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Protocol probes perform preliminary actions by pre-monitoring messages, pre-identifying transactions, and pre-bundling transactions before full verification analysis. This preliminary processing reduces the complexity burden on subsequent verification stages while maintaining high verification capacity.
Data Source
AI summary
This application discloses a computing system to provide test stimulus to an electronic device modeled in a verification environment by the computing system. The computing system can identify transactions performed by the electronic device in the verification environment based, at least in part, on messages exchanged over an interconnect in the electronic device in response to the test stimulus. The computing system can output the transactions from the verification environment and bundle a plurality of the transactions based, at least in part, on messaging relationships defined by a communication protocol for the interconnect. The computing system can utilize the bundles of transactions to determine whether the electronic device functions in accordance with the communication protocol.