JP3424548B2 - Software logic simulator for embedded devices - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a logic simulator that facilitates development of software for a microcontroller for embedded equipment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when developing software for a microcontroller for an embedded device, in many cases, the hardware of the target embedded device and an in-circuit emulator that replaces the microcontroller are connected for debugging. Is going.

In order to shorten the development period of the embedded device, it may be necessary to start debugging the software of the microcontroller before the hardware is completed, but until now, expensive hardware emulators have been used. It can be used instead of hardware, or it can be used to simulate the operation of hardware with a hardware simulator and debug it in cooperation with a software debugger and a hardware simulator, or describe the operation of hardware in software. Write in the same language as the language to debug, or do not debug the part related to the hardware,
The method was adopted.

[0004]

Each of the conventional methods adopted for shortening the development period of the embedded device has its own problems.

First, in the case of using the hardware emulator, the hardware emulator is generally very expensive, and a huge investment is required to prepare for the number of software developers.

When the hardware simulator and the software debugger are linked to debug the software, the slow simulation speed of the hardware simulator poses a problem. Compared to other methods, the number of instructions that software can execute is too small, resulting in poor efficiency.
It can only be used for debugging small software.

In the case of the method of describing the operation of the hardware in the same language as the language for describing the software and debugging, the description of the operation of the hardware is modularized so as to be reusable for the sake of efficiency. A person who is familiar with the description of the hardware operation to connect the modules in order to describe the relationship between the modules of the operation description of each hardware in the software language. Otherwise it cannot be done. FIG. 1 shows a configuration example in this case. Hardware behavior description 2, 3, 4
All the connections between the debug target software 5 and the hardware behavioral description need to be integrated into one piece of software, and the software developer must do the work. In practice, this method is used by hardware engineers to evaluate the performance of hardware, etc., and it is rarely used for software development because it is too burdensome for software developers. .

In the case of the method of not debugging the part related to the hardware, since it is the software of the embedded device, there is a considerable part of the software which is affected by the hardware, so that the debugging cannot be sufficiently performed.

[0009]

In order to solve these problems, a logic simulator for an embedded device according to the present invention is, in the invention of claim 1, a software debugger and a hardware simulation component software for simulating hardware. And a component manager that allows you to access the hardware simulation component software, and an interrupt manager that receives the interrupt generated by the hardware simulation component software and executes the interrupt processing software of the embedded device. hardware simulation components in the executable state compiled written in the hardware simulation component over nen
It is characterized in that it operates by connecting two or more devices according to the inter-connection information .

According to the invention of claim 2, claim 1
The software logic simulator for embedded devices
The hardware components have already been compiled
Mino's individual hardware simulation component
Changes in the signal output from the
Software simulation component,
Hardware simulation transmitted signal changes
It is characterized by having the function of activating components .

According to the invention of claim 3, claim 1
The software logic simulator for embedded devices
Compote manager already compiled
Individual hardware simulation components
Get the address value of the register you have and set it to that address
The contents when the software of the embedded device is accessed
To the hardware simulation component
And the corresponding hardware simulation component
It is characterized by having the function of activating the components .

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the structure of a logic simulator for embedded equipment according to the embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 2, a computer 7 has a software logic simulator 12 for embedded equipment and hardware simulation component software 8, 9 and 10 which can be started even by itself.

First, the initialization operation of the software logic simulator 12 for embedded equipment will be described. When the embedded device software logic simulator 12 is started, it searches the component software in the computer using the hardware simulation component configuration information 15 and starts the component software.
After the start-up, the component manager 11 executes the hardware simulation component software 8, 9, 1
From 0, ask what kind of register is in those components and what kind of signal there is, and get information. Using these information and the connection information 16 between the hardware simulation components, the component manager 11 determines which register is located at which address in the memory space of the microcontroller, and which signal is combined with which signal. ,register. The software debugger 14 executes from the reset start software in the debug target software 17. At the time of execution, the instruction execution engine part operates in the newly created thread. When it is operated by another thread, the software debugger, which is the execution part of the software to be debugged, and other parts such as the hardware simulation component and the component manager, are time-divisionally executed by the function of the operating system of the computer 7. . The above is the description of the initialization operation.

Next, the operation of the embedded device software logic simulator 12 during simulation will be described.

The component manager 11 is notified when the operation of accessing the register registered by the hardware simulation component software is executed during execution. Component manager 1
1 notifies the corresponding hardware simulation component software of the access contents. The hardware simulation component software operates in response to changes in registers.

When the signal state of the hardware simulation component software changes, the fact is notified to the component manager 11. The component manager notifies the relevant hardware simulation component software that the state of the signal has changed based on the predetermined relationship between the signal and the hardware simulation component. The notified hardware simulation component software simulates the operation of the hardware in response to the change in the signal state.

When an event requesting an interrupt to the microcontroller occurs in the hardware simulation component software, the hardware simulation component software notifies the component manager 11. Further, the component manager sends an interrupt request to the interrupt manager 13, and the interrupt manager suspends the thread being executed by the software debugger 14 to debug the software 1 to be debugged.
A new thread is created for the interrupt processing part in 7 and executed there. When the execution of the thread of the interrupt processing part is completed, the interrupt manager detects it and re-executes the suspended thread.

FIG. 3 illustrates the flow of the above-mentioned initialization operation. FIG. 4 shows the flow of notification when a register access occurs in the software debugger during execution of the aforementioned simulation and when a signal change occurs in the hardware simulation component.

If the hardware simulation component software is simple, Basic
It may be written in a language such as or script,
If it is a little complicated, it may be described in C language, C ++ language, JAVA, or the like. It can be run very fast at the expense of hardware simulation accuracy. A hardware simulator can be used if the accuracy of the hardware simulation is emphasized and the operating speed is sacrificed. Any method can be used as long as it can be executed by itself and can communicate with other applications according to the above rules.

[0022]

As described above, the software logic simulator for embedded equipment according to the present invention is an application in which the hardware simulation component software can be executed alone, and the user of the software logic simulator for embedded equipment is You don't need to know how to implement it, so you can focus on software debugging. On the other hand, there are various methods for implementing the hardware simulation component software, and the hardware simulation component software can select the optimum tool according to the characteristics of the hardware to be simulated. In addition, the hardware simulation component software has a simple interface with other applications, and thus can be easily reused.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration in the case of a method of simultaneously describing hardware and software in a conventional programming language.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a software logic simulator for embedded devices according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the initialization operation of the software logic simulator for embedded devices.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the operation of an embedded device software logic simulator when an event occurs.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Computers 2, 3, 4 Hardware behavior description 5 Software to be debugged 6 Software debugger 7 Computers 8, 9, 10 Hardware simulation component software 11 Component manager 12 Embedded device software logic simulator 13 Interrupt manager 14 Software Debugger 15 Hardware simulation component configuration information 16 Hardware simulation component connection information 17 Debug target software

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A software debugger, a hardware simulation component software for simulating hardware, a component manager for making the hardware simulation component software accessible, and an interrupt generated from the hardware simulation component software. receiving by a system constituted by an interrupt manager to execute the interrupt processing software of embedded devices, hardware simulation component of the hardware simulation on the executable state compiled written in any programming language
A software logic simulator for embedded devices, which operates by connecting two or more components according to the connection information between components . 2. The hardware component is already
Individual hardware simulation code
The change in the signal output from the
Other hardware simulation components
To the received hardware simulation.
Has the function of activating activation components
The software logic simulator for an embedded device according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The compote manager is already a companion.
Pre-installed individual hardware simulation components
Get the address value of the register that the component has and
When the embedded device software accesses the dress
The contents of the hardware simulation component
Hardware simulation
Characterized by having the function of activating components
The software logic simulator for an embedded device according to claim 1 .