SoC Manager-Subordinate Connectivity Path Validation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current SoC design processes face challenges in efficiently modeling connectivity paths between managers and subordinates due to the large number of components and configuration alternatives, leading to cumbersome and error-prone modeling processes.
Innovation Solution
A connectivity tool validates and configures connectivity paths in an SoC by generating metadata that indicate excluded interfaces and subordinates, using callback functions to determine enablement criteria, and specifying valid connectivity configurations based on system address maps and architecture specifications.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual modeling processes are used for connectivity paths in SoC, then flexibility in configuration is maintained, but the process becomes cumbersome and error-prone due to the large number of managers and subordinates
Solution Approach 1:
The connectivity tool automatically generates connectivity path specifications by self-configuring based on manager and subordinate definitions, eliminating the need for manual path-by-path configuration. The tool validates configurations and generates metadata autonomously, reducing human error while maintaining flexibility through programmable configuration rules.
Solution Approach 2:
The connectivity tool acts as an intermediary between the system architect's high-level specifications and the detailed connectivity path configurations. It translates abstract manager-subordinate relationships into concrete connectivity paths, handling the complexity of validation and configuration generation while preserving design intent.
2Reliability
If comprehensive connectivity path specifications are created for all manager-subordinate combinations, then complete coverage is achieved, but the modeling process becomes infeasible due to the exponential number of configurations
Solution Approach 1:
The connectivity configuration is segmented into hierarchical levels: manager definitions, subordinate definitions, and generated connectivity paths. This segmentation allows the system to define managers and subordinates independently, then automatically generate the combinatorial connectivity paths through validation rules, avoiding the need to manually specify each individual path while ensuring complete coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary validation of manager and subordinate configurations before generating connectivity paths. By pre-defining exclusion criteria, interface compatibility rules, and connectivity constraints, the system prepares validation frameworks in advance that automatically filter valid configurations during path generation, reducing the computational burden of evaluating all possible combinations.
3Reliability
If validation rules are applied to all manager-subordinate interfaces, then configuration errors are detected, but the validation process becomes computationally intensive
Solution Approach 1:
The validation process applies rules selectively rather than uniformly to all possible configurations. The connectivity tool uses preliminary validation frameworks that identify and apply only the relevant validation rules for each manager-subordinate pair based on their interface types and configuration attributes, avoiding unnecessary validation computations for incompatible or excluded combinations.
Data Source
AI summary
A connectivity tool validates a connectivity configuration of each manager of a plurality of managers in a system-on-chip (SoC) architecture based on data that indicate excluded interfaces of a plurality of interfaces of the SoC architecture and excluded subordinates of a plurality of subordinates of the SoC architecture. The connectivity configuration specifies a connectivity status of the manager and one or more of the plurality of interfaces. The connectivity tool configures connectivity paths of the SoC to include a path from a manager of the plurality of managers to a subordinate of the plurality of subordinates for each valid connectivity configuration.