JP2007087204A - Design support system and design support method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide information on a module which constitutes a design target system so as to be easily recognizable to a designer. <P>SOLUTION: Information on the module is provided so that it can be easily recognized by selecting a module which constitutes a design target system obtained by combining a plurality of modules, changing the display form based on information relating to the module when a selected module is displayed on an edit screen, and displaying it on an edit screen in a display form according to the information concerned. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a design support system and a design support method, and more particularly to an architecture design support system for a system LSI.

  Advances in process technology have increased the degree of integration of integrated circuits such as LSI (Large Scale Integrated Circuit), and a system that has been realized by mounting multiple chips (devices) on a board as a system LSI on one chip. It became possible to do. The functional modules mounted on the chip are also diversifying and the circuit scale is increasing. Accordingly, as a method for efficiently designing a system LSI, a design using a system description language such as SystemC or SpecC has been spread from a conventional design using a hardware description language such as Verilog-HDL or VHDL (for example, Patent Document 1).

  Synopsys CoCentric and CoWare N2C are known as design support tools using system description languages. In a design support tool using a system description language, it is possible to design a system LSI by inputting a module described in the system description language on a block diagram input screen. When the design of the system LSI is completed, a simulation model is generated from the design support tool, the simulator is activated and the system simulation is performed, and the function and performance of the system LSI can be confirmed.

  Here, the module description in the system description language generally has three types of description levels described below depending on the abstraction level of the description.

<Transaction level (TL)>
The transaction level is an abstraction level for describing functions by capturing communication between modules. Since the operation is based on the communication start and end times and communication data, the simulation accuracy for the clock is very low. The simulation speed is very fast because the function is simulated by the event.

<Bus cycle accurate (BCA)>
Bus cycle accurate is a level of abstraction that describes functions as events between module inputs and outputs. The operation clock can be accurately simulated at the input unit and the output unit.

<Register transfer level (RTL)>
The register transfer level is an abstraction level for describing a circuit by capturing synchronous transfer between register files. The functional operation can be accurately simulated with respect to the operation clock, and the simulation accuracy is very high. Since the function is simulated every clock, the simulation speed is very slow.

  The higher the level of abstraction of the description, the faster the simulation speed, while the lower the level of abstraction, the higher the simulation accuracy. In the design of a system LSI, the module functions are refined from a description with a high level of abstraction to a description with a low level of abstraction. In general, a designer selects a module described with various degrees of abstraction and designs a system LSI.

  There is a design support system for designing a system LSI architecture by displaying a block diagram of a system LSI on a computer screen and editing it. Conventionally, since the design of a system LSI has been designed only with an RTL having a low abstraction level, most of such conventional design support systems have been targeted at the RTL as an abstraction level. However, recently, design support systems for BCA and TL with higher abstraction levels have appeared.

JP 2001-142927 A

  A design support system for BCA and TL with a high level of abstraction differs from a conventional design support system for RTL with a low level of abstraction. Holds more information about.

  A conventional design support system for RTL with a low level of abstraction, for functional modules, port information such as the number of ports at the boundary, name of each port, bit width, input / output direction, etc. It only holds information as a collection of signal lines.

  On the other hand, in the design support system for BCA and TL with a high level of abstraction, in addition to the port information of the boundary part for functional modules, which bus can be connected, whether the master or slave to the bus It keeps information about what functions it has and what functions it has. Further, the bus holds information such as protocol, arbitration algorithm, address assignment of connected functional modules, data transfer bandwidth, etc., in addition to the information of its constituent signals.

  However, the block diagram input screen of a design support system targeting a high level of abstraction is not much different from that of a conventional design support system targeting a low level of abstraction. I do not know and the designer cannot recognize it. For this reason, if the designer overlooks any of these pieces of information, the configuration is not intended by the designer. When this is detected in a later process such as a simulation, a work rework of correcting again by the block diagram input screen occurs, and a great deal of time and labor are consumed.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a designer with information on modules constituting a system to be designed so that the information can be easily recognized.

The design support system of the present invention is a system design support system configured by combining a plurality of modules, and includes a selection means for selecting the module constituting the system to be designed, and a module selected by the selection means. Display control means for displaying on the editing screen, the display control means determining and displaying a display form of the module to be displayed on the editing screen based on information relating to the module.
In addition, the design support system of the present invention edits the selected bus, selection means for selecting one or more buses constituting the system to be designed, and one or more functional modules connected to the bus. The first display control means for displaying on the screen, the second display control means for displaying the selected functional module on the editing screen, and the display mode when displaying the bus on the editing screen And means for determining based on the information relating to the above.
A design support method of the present invention is a system support method for a system configured by combining a plurality of modules, and includes a selection step for selecting the module constituting the system to be designed, and a module selected in the selection step. A display control step for displaying the image on the edit screen, and in the display control step, a display form of the module to be displayed on the edit screen is determined and displayed based on information related to the module. .
A program according to the present invention is a program for causing a computer to execute a design support process for a system configured by combining a plurality of modules, the selecting step for selecting the module constituting the system to be designed, and the selection A display control step of determining a display form of the module selected in the step based on information related to the module and displaying the module on an editing screen is executed by the computer.
The computer-readable recording medium of the present invention records the above program.

  According to the present invention, the display form of a module constituting the system to be designed is changed based on information related to the module, and can be easily recognized by displaying it on the edit screen in a display form corresponding to the information. Can provide information about the module. As a result, it is possible to obtain information about the module only by the designer looking at the editing screen in the design support system.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration example of a design support system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The design support system according to the present embodiment performs (supports) architecture design of a system LSI in a system description language, and targets, for example, a high abstraction level BCA (bus cycle accurate) or TL (transaction level). .

  As illustrated in FIG. 1, the design support system according to the present embodiment includes an input device 10, a module information storage unit 20, a design processing unit 30, a display control unit 40, and a display device 50.

  The input device 10 is for inputting an external instruction or the like to the design support system, and is, for example, a pointing device such as a mouse or a trackball, a keyboard, or the like. Selection / arrangement of modules constituting the system to be designed and instructions by the designer to the design support system related to the connection are input via the input device 10.

  The module information storage unit 20 stores information on modules that can be used in the architecture design by the design support system. Module information stored in the module information storage unit 20 includes bus information 21 and functional module information 22.

  The bus information 21 is information related to the bus connecting the functional modules. As the bus information 21, information on the bus type and data transfer band is stored for each bus. Furthermore, information such as bus configuration signals, protocols, arbitration algorithms, and address assignments are included as appropriate.

  The functional module information 22 is information relating to a functional module that realizes a predetermined functional operation. As the function module information 22, information on the type of function module (what function it has) and whether it operates as a master or a slave with respect to the bus is stored for each function module. Furthermore, when operating as a master, information on the data transfer bandwidth required for the bus is stored for each functional module. Furthermore, information about the boundary port information (number of ports at the boundary portion, names of each port, bit width, input / output direction, etc.), connectable buses, and the like are appropriately included.

  The design processing unit 30 performs overall control of the design support system and performs processing related to architecture design, and includes a module selection unit 31 and a connection processing unit 32. The module selection unit 31 selects modules constituting the system to be designed. Specifically, the module is selected by reading out the module information corresponding to the instruction input from the input device 10 from the modules stored in the module information storage unit 30.

  The connection processing unit 32 connects the modules selected by the module selection unit 31 to each other, and connects the selected bus and the functional module connected thereto in accordance with an instruction input from the input device 10. In this way, architecture design is performed by connecting and combining a plurality of selected modules (bus and functional modules), and a system to be designed is configured.

  The display control unit 40 displays a block diagram input screen, which is an editing screen related to architecture design, on the display device 50 configured by a known display or the like. On this block diagram input screen, as will be described later, selectable modules (buses and functional modules) and modules selected to constitute the system to be designed are displayed. The display control unit 40 updates the display as needed according to the processing performed by the design processing unit 30, and causes the display device 50 to display a block diagram input screen reflecting the processing.

  In addition, the display control unit 40 includes a display form determination unit 41. The display form determination unit 41 determines a display form for displaying the module selected to configure the system to be designed on the block diagram input screen. The display form determining unit 41 determines the display form of the selected module based on the information related to the module, and the module is displayed on the block diagram input screen in the determined display form.

  For example, when determining the display form of a bus as a module, the display form determining unit 41 is based on the data transfer band of the bus or the data transfer band requested by the functional module connected to the bus to the bus. The display form is determined. This is an example, and the present invention is not limited to this.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a block diagram input screen in the design support system of the present embodiment. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes an entire block diagram input screen in the design support system, which includes display areas of a system block diagram display part 100, a function module selection part 110, and a bus selection part.

The system block diagram display portion 100 is a portion that displays a block diagram of a system to be designed.
Here, reference numeral 101 denotes a bus constituting a system to be designed. The bus 101 is a type of bus called “BusA”. Reference numerals 102 and 103 denote functional modules that constitute a system to be designed, and are connected to the bus 101 as a master. The function module 102 is a function module of the type “ModuleA”, and the function module 103 is a function module of “ModuleB”. Reference numeral 104 denotes a functional module that constitutes a system to be designed, and is connected to the bus 101 as a slave. The function module 104 is a function module of the type “ModuleC”.

  The function module selection part 110 is a part that displays all or part of the types of function modules that can be used in the design support system of the present embodiment. The selection of the function module displayed in the function module selection portion 110 can be executed as follows. That is, the type of any one functional module is selected by the input device 10 (for example, a mouse, a trackball, a keyboard, etc.) that is directly or indirectly connected to the computer on which the design support system is operating. Selection can be specified.

  The bus selection portion 120 is a portion that displays all or part of the types of buses that can be used in the design support system of the present embodiment. The selection of the bus displayed in the bus selection portion 120 can be executed as follows. That is, any one bus type can be selected by the input device 10 (for example, mouse, trackball, keyboard, etc.) that is directly or indirectly connected to the computer on which the design support system is operating. It can be specified.

  Next, an operation in designing a system LSI using a block diagram input screen by the design support system of the present embodiment will be described. In the following description, as an example, a mouse is used as the input device 10 and the system displayed on the block diagram input screen shown in FIG. 2 is designed.

  First, when the designer points and clicks “BusA” displayed in the bus selection portion 120 of the block diagram input screen using the mouse, the design processing unit 30 sets “BusA” as a bus that constitutes the system LSI to be designed. BusA ”is selected. Then, with the selected state of “BusA”, if an arbitrary position in the system block diagram display portion 100 of the block diagram input screen is pointed and clicked with the mouse, “BusA” is arranged as the bus 101.

At this time, the display control unit 40 uses the data transfer band W and coefficient K of “BusA” held internally as information by the design support system, and the width on the screen of the bus 101 displayed on the system block diagram display portion 100. (Display width) D is calculated as in the following formula (1).
D = W × K (1)

  Here, the coefficient K in the above equation (1) is determined in advance so as to have a display width D that is reasonably easy to see when the designer views the bus on the system block diagram display portion 100. By calculating the display width D by the above equation (1), the bus 101 can be displayed on the system block diagram display portion 100 with a thickness (display width) proportional to the data transfer band.

  Next, the function that configures the system LSI to be designed by the design processing unit 30 when the designer points and clicks “ModuleA” displayed in the function module selection portion 100 of the block diagram input screen using the mouse. “ModuleA” is selected as the module. Then, when the “ModuleA” is selected, the upper left position of the bus 101 in the system block diagram display part 100 is pointed and clicked with the mouse, and “ModuleA” is arranged as the functional module 102.

  Next, when the designer points and clicks “ModuleB” displayed in the functional module selection portion 110 with the mouse, the “ModuleB” is configured as a functional module constituting the system LSI to be designed by the design processing unit 30. Is selected. Then, when the “Module B” is selected, the upper right position of the bus 101 in the system block diagram display portion 100 is pointed and clicked with the mouse, and “Module B” is arranged as the functional module 103.

  Next, when the designer points and clicks “ModuleC” displayed in the function module selection portion 110 using a mouse, the “ModuleC” is configured as a functional module constituting the system LSI to be designed by the design processing unit 30. Is selected. Then, when the “ModuleC” is selected, the position below the bus 101 in the system block diagram display portion 100 is pointed and clicked with the mouse, and “ModuleC” is arranged as the functional module 104.

  Finally, the designer points the position of the functional module 102 with the mouse, places the button, points to the bus 101, and releases the button, so that the functional module 102 and the bus 101 are connected by the design processing unit 30. The function modules 103 and 104 are also connected to the bus 101 in the same manner.

In the above description, the display width on the screen of the bus 101 to be displayed is changed based on the data transfer band W of “BusA” as the bus 101, but the display color on the screen is changed. May be.
For example, the data transfer band W of “BusA” held in the design support system, the maximum value M of the internal representation value of the RGB color component when displayed on the screen, and the coefficient K, are displayed on the screen. Determine the display color. Specifically, the RGB components of the color (display color) on the screen of the bus 101 displayed on the system block diagram display portion 100 may be determined as in the following equations (2) to (4). good.

R = M−W × K (2)
G = 0 (3)
B = W × K (4)

  Here, the coefficient K in the above equations (2) to (4) indicates that the value of each color component R, G, B in all buses held internally by the design support system is the maximum value M of the internal representation value. It is determined not to exceed. As a result, the bus 101 can be displayed on the system block diagram display portion 100 in a color (display color) corresponding to the data transfer band.

  Hereinafter, an operation example in the case where the functional module is connected to the bus will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view of the bus 101 shown in FIG. 2, and the bus width 201 is displayed on the screen of the bus 101 displayed on the system block diagram display portion 100 calculated in the same manner as the above-described operation example. The display width.

When the functional module 102 and the bus 101 are connected in response to an operation by the designer, the functional module is determined by the requested data transfer bandwidth U and the coefficient K for the bus 101 of “ModuleA” held inside the design support system. The display width E of the requested data transfer band is calculated as in the following equation (5).
E = U × K (5)

  The display width thus calculated is the display width 202 of the data transfer bandwidth required by the functional module, and is displayed on the system block diagram display portion 100 together with the bus 101 in the display form as shown in FIG.

  Further, when the functional module 103 and the bus 101 are connected in accordance with an operation by the designer, the design support system is the same as when the functional module 102 and the bus 101 are connected. That is, in the display form as shown in FIG. 3B, the data is displayed on the system block diagram display portion 100 with the width indicated by the display width 203 of the data transfer bandwidth requested by the functional module 103 together with the bus 101.

  Further, when the functional module 104 and the bus 101 are connected in accordance with an operation by the designer, the design support system determines that “ModuleC”, that is, the functional module 104 is a functional module that is slave-connected to the bus 101. Recognize from the information held in Therefore, since the functional module that is slave-connected to the bus does not itself request a data transfer band from the bus, the screen display is left as shown in FIG.

  In the above description, the data transfer bandwidth requested by the functional modules 102 and 103 is attached to the bus 101 so as to be identified and displayed together with the bus 101. However, the display mode of the bus 101 itself (for example, the display width or display color of the bus) may be changed according to the data transfer bandwidth requested by the functional modules 102 and 103 to the bus 101.

  As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the system block diagram display portion 100 other than the request data transfer band display portion for the bus 101 of the functional module displayed with the display width 202 or 203 width. The display color of the bus 101 to be displayed may be determined as follows. The RGB components of the colors (display colors) on the screen are the data transfer band W of “BusA” held in the design support system, and the data transfer band U requested by “ModuleA” to the bus 101 , “Module B” requires the data transfer band V required for the bus 101, the maximum value M of the internal representation value of the RGB color component when displayed on the screen, and the coefficient K, the following equations (6) to You may make it determine like Formula (8).

R = M− (W−U−V) × K (6)
G = 0 (7)
B = (W−U−V) × K (8)

  However, in the above formulas (6) to (8), when the value of (W−U−V) becomes negative, the portion of (W−U−V) is replaced with 0. As a result, the bus 101 can be displayed on the system block diagram display portion 100 in a color corresponding to the remaining bandwidth obtained by subtracting the total required data transfer bandwidth for the functional module bus 101 from the bus 101.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the module selected to configure the system to be designed is displayed on the system block diagram display portion 100 of the block diagram input screen, the display form of the module to be displayed Is changed according to information about the module.

  For example, the selected bus is displayed on the system block diagram display portion 100 with a display width or display color corresponding to the data transfer band W of the selected module. As a result, the designer can provide information on the data transfer band W of the selected bus so that the designer can easily recognize the information. The designer can easily view the system block diagram display portion 100 on which the bus is displayed. It becomes possible to obtain information on the data transfer band W just by looking.

  Further, for example, the bus that is the selected module is displayed on the system block diagram display portion 100 by changing the display form based on the data transfer band requested by the functional module connected to the bus. As a result, the selected bus can be provided to the designer so that the information about the data transfer bandwidth requested from the functional block connected thereto can be easily recognized. As a result, the designer can obtain information on the required data transfer bandwidth at a glance at the system block diagram display portion 100 on which the bus is displayed.

  Further, for example, the display form is changed according to the data transfer band of the bus that is the selected module and the data transfer band required by the functional block connected to the bus, and the bus is displayed on the system block diagram display portion 100. . As a result, it is possible to provide information such as whether or not the data transfer bandwidth of the selected bus is sufficient so that it can be easily recognized, and the designer can easily see the system block diagram display part 100. It can be determined whether the selected bus is appropriate.

(Other embodiments of the present invention)
In order to operate various devices to realize the functions of the above-described embodiments, program codes of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments are provided to a computer in an apparatus or system connected to the various devices. What is implemented by operating the various devices according to a program supplied and stored in a computer (CPU or MPU) of the apparatus or system is also included in the scope of the present invention.
In this case, the program code of the software itself realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the program code itself constitutes the present invention. Further, means for supplying the program code to the computer, for example, a recording medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention. As a recording medium for storing the program code, for example, a flexible disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.
Further, by executing the program code supplied by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also the OS (operating system) or other application software in which the program code is running on the computer, etc. It goes without saying that the program code is also included in the embodiment of the present invention even when the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized in cooperation with the embodiment.
Further, after the supplied program code is stored in the memory provided in the function expansion board of the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, the CPU provided in the function expansion board or function expansion unit based on the instruction of the program code Needless to say, the present invention includes the case where the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized by performing part or all of the actual processing.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of a computer 400 capable of realizing the design support system illustrated in the present embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 4, the computer 400 includes a CPU 401, a ROM 402, a RAM 403, and a keyboard controller (KBC) 405 of a keyboard (KB) 409 that is an input device. Also, a CRT controller (CRTC) 406 of a CRT display (CRT) 410 as a display device and a disk controller (DKC) 407 of a hard disk drive (HD) 411 and a flexible disk drive (FD) 412 are provided. Further, a network interface card (NIC) 408 is provided, and these are communicably connected to each other via a system bus 404.
The CPU 401 executes the software (program) stored in the ROM 402 or the hard disk drive 411 or the software (program) supplied from the flexible disk drive 412, so that each component connected to the system bus 404 is comprehensively executed. Control. In other words, the CPU 401 reads out and executes the processing program from the ROM 402, the hard disk drive 411, or the flexible disk drive 412 that is a program or data recording medium, thereby performing control for realizing the operation in the present embodiment.
The RAM 403 functions as a main memory and work area for the CPU 401.
A keyboard controller 405 controls an instruction input from a keyboard 409 or a pointing device (not shown).
A CRT controller 406 controls display of the CRT 410.
The disk controller 407 controls access to the hard disk drive 411 and the flexible disk drive 412 that store various applications, user files, network management programs, processing programs in the present embodiment, and the like.
The network interface card 408 exchanges data and the like bidirectionally with other devices on the network 413.

  The above-described embodiments are merely examples of implementation in carrying out the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention should not be construed as being limited thereto. That is, the present invention can be implemented in various forms without departing from the technical idea or the main features thereof.

It is a block diagram which shows the system configuration example of the design support system in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the block diagram input screen in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the module (bus) in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the hardware structural example of the computer which can implement | achieve the design support system in this embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Input device 20 Module information storage part 30 Design processing part 31 Module selection part 32 Connection processing part 40 Display control part 41 Display form determination part 50 Display apparatus

Claims (13)

A system design support system configured by combining a plurality of modules,
A selection means for selecting the module constituting the system to be designed;
Display control means for displaying the module selected by the selection means on the editing screen,
The design support system, wherein the display control means determines and displays a display form of a module to be displayed on the editing screen based on information related to the module. The module includes a bus and a functional module connected to the bus,
The design support system according to claim 1, wherein the display control means determines and displays a display form of the bus displayed on the editing screen based on information related to the bus. Selecting means for selecting one or more buses constituting the system to be designed and one or more functional modules connected to the bus;
First display control means for displaying the selected bus on the editing screen;
Second display control means for displaying the selected functional module on the editing screen;
A design support system comprising: means for determining a display form for displaying a bus on the editing screen based on information related to the bus.   4. The design support system according to claim 2, wherein a display form of the bus displayed on the editing screen is determined based on a bandwidth of the bus.   5. The design support system according to claim 4, wherein a display width of the bus displayed on the editing screen is determined based on a bandwidth of the bus.   6. The design support system according to claim 5, wherein the bus is displayed on the editing screen with a display width proportional to the bus bandwidth.   The design support system according to any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein a display color of the bus displayed on the editing screen is determined based on a band of the bus.   4. The design support system according to claim 2, wherein a display form of the bus displayed on the edit screen is determined based on a bandwidth required by the functional module connected to the bus for the bus. .   The display color of the bus displayed on the editing screen is determined based on the bandwidth of the bus and the bandwidth required by all the functional modules connected to the bus for the bus. The design support system according to claim 8.   10. The individual band required for the bus by the functional module connected to the bus is identified and displayed in association with the bus displayed on the editing screen. The design support system according to item. A design support method for a system configured by combining a plurality of modules,
A selection step of selecting the module constituting the system to be designed;
A display control step of displaying the module selected in the selection step on the editing screen,
In the display control step, a design support method characterized in that a display form of a module to be displayed on the editing screen is determined and displayed based on information related to the module. A program for causing a computer to execute design support processing of a system configured by combining a plurality of modules,
A selection step for selecting the above-mentioned modules constituting the system to be designed;
A program for causing a computer to execute a display control step of determining a display form of a module selected in the selection step based on information related to the module and displaying the module on an editing screen.   13. A computer-readable recording medium on which the program according to claim 12 is recorded.

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