JP2006285835A - Method for evaluating power consumption and system for evaluating power consumption - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accelerate the evaluation of power consumption while using a logic emulator corresponding to an actual circuit scale without adding a circuit for measuring power consumption in a largely scaled integrated circuit. <P>SOLUTION: A method for evaluating power consumption is provided which divides a largely scaled integrated circuit, and creates a power consumption value table PT for each of the divided blocks in advance. A logic emulation device 30 records only the toggle information TI of a necessary node, and calculates overall power consumption evaluation by using the toggle information TI and the power consumption value table PT. Thus, it is possible to accelerate the power consumption evaluation by using a logic emulation device without adding an excess logic circuit. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a power consumption evaluation method and a power consumption evaluation system for evaluating power consumption of an integrated circuit.

  Conventionally, in order to evaluate the power consumption of an integrated circuit in advance, a power consumption evaluation tool linked to a software simulator such as Verilog-XL or VCS has been used. However, in software simulators, as the scale of integrated circuits increases, the time required for measuring the number of toggles of each logic circuit increases, making it difficult to evaluate power consumption in an effective time.

Thus, in order to shorten the time for power consumption evaluation, there is one that performs power consumption evaluation using a logic emulator configured by a field programmable array (see, for example, Patent Document 1). According to the logic emulator, logic verification can be performed 10,000 to 100,000 times faster than a software simulator.
JP 2002-288257 A (page 4, FIG. 4)

  In the case of a logic emulator, many logic circuits for measuring power consumption must be added. In other words, a logic emulator with a larger capacity than necessary is required for power consumption measurement. In general, the larger the scale, the more expensive the logic emulator. Therefore, it is difficult to prepare a logic emulator having a capacity larger than the actual logic scale for power consumption measurement, which makes it difficult to apply the logic emulator.

  The present invention was created in view of the above circumstances, and aims to accelerate power consumption evaluation while using a logic emulator according to the actual circuit scale without adding a circuit for power consumption measurement. The purpose is that.

An integrated circuit power consumption evaluation method according to the present invention includes:
Dividing the integrated circuit into a plurality of sections;
Creating a table of power consumption values for the input transition pattern from the power consumption values of each element constituting the integrated circuit in each section and the connection information of each element;
And a step of evaluating power consumption of the integrated circuit from toggle information of input signals of each section and the table of power consumption values.

  According to this, by creating a power consumption value table in advance, it becomes possible to perform power consumption evaluation just by holding time-series data of a specific node of the integrated circuit, and a circuit for power consumption evaluation is added. Power consumption evaluation can be performed at high speed without doing so.

An integrated circuit power consumption evaluation system according to the present invention includes:
A logic emulation device having a memory for holding toggle information for power consumption evaluation;
A computer connected to the logic emulation device;
Means for transferring toggle information for power consumption evaluation from the logic emulation device to the computer;
And a means for calculating the power consumption of the integrated circuit from the power consumption evaluation toggle information on the computer based on the power consumption evaluation method.

  According to this, power consumption evaluation can be accelerated using a logic emulation device, and power consumption evaluation can be accelerated without adding a circuit for power consumption evaluation.

  In the above power consumption evaluation method, when dividing an integrated circuit into a plurality of sections, it is preferable to divide based on circuit components having a state holding function. Here, the circuit components having the state holding function are, for example, flip-flops, latch circuits, registers, and the like.

  According to this, since division is performed based on circuit components having a state holding function, it becomes easy to obtain toggle information in a logic emulation device operating on a cycle basis. Therefore, the application of the present method to the logic emulation apparatus becomes easy, and the power consumption can be evaluated without adding a power consumption evaluation circuit.

An integrated circuit power consumption evaluation system according to the present invention includes:
A logic emulation device including a memory for holding input / output data of the integrated circuit and output data of a circuit component having a state holding function as toggle information for power consumption evaluation;
A computer connected to the logic emulation device;
Means for transferring toggle information for power consumption evaluation from the logic emulation device to a computer;
Based on the power consumption evaluation method of dividing the integrated circuit on the basis of the circuit component having the state holding function on the computer, the power consumption of the integrated circuit is calculated from the toggle information for power consumption evaluation. Means for calculating.

  According to this, the power consumption evaluation can be easily accelerated using the logic emulation device, and the power consumption evaluation can be easily accelerated without adding a circuit for power consumption evaluation.

  In the power consumption evaluation system described above, it is preferable that the memory holding the toggle information for power consumption evaluation and the memory for acquiring waveform information of the logic emulation apparatus are shared. According to this, it is not necessary to prepare a dedicated memory for power consumption evaluation in the logic emulation device, and the cost can be reduced.

  Furthermore, in the power consumption evaluation system, it is preferable to include means capable of transferring toggle information for power consumption evaluation to a computer even during logic emulation. According to this, toggle information can be transferred to the computer even during execution of logic emulation, and power consumption evaluation with a long pattern can be accelerated.

  According to the present invention, since a table of power consumption values is created in advance, power consumption evaluation can be performed without adding a circuit for power consumption evaluation, and power consumption evaluation is accelerated using a logic emulation device. be able to.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of a power consumption evaluation method and a power consumption evaluation system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows an example of a circuit obtained by dividing a large-scale integrated circuit that performs power consumption evaluation into specific sections. In FIG. 1, 10 is a D flip-flop, and 11 is an AND circuit. A, B, C, D, and E are wires included in the divided circuit. P0, P1, and P2 are nodes included in the preceding division circuit, and N0 and N1 are nodes included in the subsequent division circuit. For the division of large-scale integrated circuits, including circuit components having a state holding function such as flip-flops, and dividing in a state having at least one logic circuit that obtains one output by a logical operation based on a plurality of inputs And

  In the divided circuit shown in FIG. 1, a power consumption value table PT describing power consumption values for combinations of A, B, and C transition patterns is created. An example of the created power consumption value table PT is shown in FIG. In each of A, B, and C, four patterns of transition from “0” to “0”, transition from “0” to “1”, transition from “1” to “0”, transition from “1” to “1” Therefore, the total number of combinations is 4 × 4 × 4 = 64 patterns.

  The power consumption value table PT is calculated from the power consumption parameters of the components of each divided circuit. When the divided circuit is large-scale, the values of the power consumption value table PT may be calculated using a statistical method.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure for calculating power consumption.

  The step (23) of dividing the integrated circuit into a plurality of sections, the power consumption value (22) of each element constituting the integrated circuit in each section, and the power consumption value for the input transition pattern from the connection information (21) of each element A table (PT), and a calculation (25) of the power consumption value of the integrated circuit from the toggle information (TI) of the input signal of each section and the power consumption value table (PT) and an evaluation step And have.

  That is, circuit division 23 is performed based on connection information 21 of each element of the integrated circuit and power consumption information 22 of each component, and a power consumption value table PT (00, 01, 02, 03) for each divided circuit is created. . On the other hand, toggle information TI is acquired by logic emulation execution 24 using a logic emulation device such as a logic emulator. Next, the power consumption value calculation 25 calculates the power consumption value from the toggle information TI and the power consumption value table PT.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of an integrated circuit power consumption evaluation system.

  A logic emulation device 30 includes a memory 31 that holds toggle information TI for power consumption evaluation. The memory 31 is assumed to hold output data of the flip-flop. This memory 31 may be shared with a waveform acquisition memory provided in the logic emulation device 30. Reference numeral 32 denotes a computer connected to the logic emulation device 30, and 33 denotes a data transfer cable as means for transferring toggle information TI for power consumption evaluation from the logic emulation device 30 to the computer 32. The computer 32 calculates the power consumption of the integrated circuit from the toggle information TI for power consumption evaluation based on the power consumption evaluation method described above.

  The logic emulation device 30 sequentially stores the toggle information TI in the memory 31 during execution of the logic emulation. The toggle information TI held by the logic emulation device 30 is transferred to the computer 32 through the data transfer cable 33 during the emulation execution or after the emulation ends, and the power consumption is calculated on the computer 32.

  The present invention is useful as a power consumption evaluation method and a power consumption evaluation system that pre-evaluate the power consumption of a large-scale integrated circuit at high speed.

The circuit diagram which shows an example of the partial circuit which divided | segmented the integrated circuit which is the object of power consumption evaluation in embodiment of this invention in the specific division The figure which shows an example of the power consumption value table in the power consumption evaluation system in embodiment of this invention The flowchart which shows an example of the procedure which calculates power consumption in the power consumption evaluation system in embodiment of this invention Schematic configuration diagram of a power consumption evaluation system in an embodiment of the present invention

Explanation of symbols

10: D flip-flop 11: AND circuit 21: Connection information of each element of integrated circuit 22: Power consumption information of component 23: Circuit division 24: Execution of logic emulation 25: Calculation of power consumption value 30: Logic emulation device 31: Consumption Memory of toggle information for power evaluation 32: Computer 33: Data transfer cable PT: Power consumption value table TI: Toggle information

Claims (7)

A method for evaluating the power consumption of an integrated circuit, comprising:
Dividing the integrated circuit into a plurality of sections;
Creating a table of power consumption values for the input transition pattern from the power consumption values of each element constituting the integrated circuit in each section and the connection information of each element;
A power consumption evaluation method including a step of performing power consumption evaluation of the integrated circuit from toggle information of an input signal of each partition and the power consumption value table. A system for evaluating power consumption of an integrated circuit,
A logic emulation device having a memory for holding toggle information for power consumption evaluation;
A computer connected to the logic emulation device;
Means for transferring toggle information for power consumption evaluation from the logic emulation device to the computer;
A power consumption evaluation system comprising: means for calculating power consumption of the integrated circuit from toggle information for power consumption evaluation based on the power consumption evaluation method according to claim 1 on the computer.   The power consumption evaluation method according to claim 1, wherein in the step of dividing the integrated circuit into a plurality of sections, the integrated circuit is divided based on circuit components having a state holding function. A system for evaluating power consumption of an integrated circuit,
A logic emulation device including a memory for holding input / output data of the integrated circuit and output data of a circuit component having a state holding function as toggle information for power consumption evaluation;
A computer connected to the logic emulation device;
Means for transferring toggle information for power consumption evaluation from the logic emulation device to a computer;
A power consumption evaluation system comprising: means for calculating the power consumption of the integrated circuit from the power consumption evaluation toggle information on the computer based on the power consumption evaluation method according to claim 3.   The power consumption evaluation system according to claim 4, wherein the memory that holds the toggle information for power consumption evaluation is shared with a waveform acquisition memory in the logic emulation device.   The power consumption evaluation system according to claim 2, further comprising means capable of transferring the toggle information for power consumption evaluation to the computer even during execution of logic emulation.   5. The power consumption evaluation system according to claim 4, further comprising means capable of transferring the toggle information for power consumption evaluation to the computer even during execution of logic emulation.

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