JPH08202741A - Device and method for supporting function design - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To improve a debugging environment by emphatically displaying a current state under simulation and the route of transition on a display screen from control contents inputted in the form of a state transition figure or the like. CONSTITUTION: Graphic information inputted in the form of the state transition figure is analyzed and generated as graphic data and the graphic data are stored in a graphic data file 6. Next, the generating processing of relation data 7 is executed by referring to the provided graphic data. Afterwards, the generating processing of condition branch data 8 is executed by referring to the provided graphic data. Then, simulation processing is executed to the graphic data expressing an input display picture to be prepared and displayed. Next, simulation data are extracted and based on these data and the relation data 7, the current state is analyzed. Further, the route of transition between states is analyzed by referring to the condition branch data 8. Then, the current state and its transition route are emphatically displayed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a functional design support device and a functional design support method for facilitating functional design of an LSI design, and more particularly to a state transition based design that represents a hardware control operation in a plurality of states. The present invention relates to a functional design support device and a functional design support method to support.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when designing an LSI such as an ASIC (application-specific IC), an entry tool device for inputting processing contents including control contents of the hardware of the LSI has been used. This entry tool device is provided with an input device for inputting a figure (graphical image information) such as a state transition diagram showing the control contents. The input processing contents are simulated, and the current “state” during the simulation can be displayed on the display by a method such as highlighting of a figure indicating the “state”. The highlighting of the current “state” during simulation is common in the prior art, for example, FlowHDL from KBS, Speed from Speed.
dChart, SEE Technology's Vi
This function is provided in each of the dual HDLs. In this way, an invention has been proposed in which the debug environment is improved by obtaining information such as the “state” and transition conditions during simulation.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, although the change of the "state" during the execution of the simulation can be understood, the transition condition path between the "state" before the change and the "state" after the change can be understood. Can't understand. Moreover, it is not possible to understand whether all the "states" and the paths of the state transition conditions have been covered after the simulation is executed. These days
The required control operation of hardware is complicated,
The contents of the state transition to be entered by the entry tool device are becoming complicated. Also, there are various transition conditions between "states", and unpredictable condition transitions occur,
It may include a path of useless condition transition. Therefore, it is becoming important not only to recognize changes in “states” but also to know the paths of state transition conditions in simulations. Further, regarding the highlighting of the transition path between the “states” during the simulation, none has been used by the commercial tool, and regarding the display of the coverage after the simulation, neither has been used by the commercial tool. The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a functional design support device and a functional design support method that can improve the debug environment for simulation.

[0004]

The functional design support apparatus of the present invention simulates a control operation of hardware including a control flow having a plurality of states by using a simulator and displays the execution process of the simulation. A functional design support device for displaying on a screen, wherein graphic data generating means for analyzing the control content of the control flow in the form of a state transition diagram and generating graphic data indicating the control content, Relational data generating means for generating relational data indicating the relation between each state and the state code assigned to each state, a transition source state which is a transition source state, and a transition destination state which is a transition destination state. The transition position from the transition source state to the transition destination state is analyzed from the graphic data, and the transition source state, the transition destination state,
And conditional branch data generation means for generating the branch position as conditional branch data, extraction means for extracting simulation data obtained from the simulator, and simulation execution based on the relational data and the simulation data obtained by the extraction means. A current state analyzing means for analyzing a current state in the inside, a route analyzing means for analyzing a route of a transition condition between the states based on the conditional branch data and the simulation data, and the above obtained from the current state analyzing means. A first display unit for highlighting the current state and the transition route between the states obtained from the route analysis unit on the screen is provided.

The present state analysis means analyzes the present state during execution of the simulation based on the relational data obtained from the relational data generation means and the simulation data obtained from the extraction means. The path analysis means analyzes the path of the transition condition between the states based on the conditional branch data obtained from the conditional branch data generation means and the simulation data. The first display unit highlights the current state obtained from the current state analysis unit and the route analysis unit and the transition route on the display screen. In this way, the current state and the transition route are highlighted on the display screen, which serves to improve the debug environment of the simulation.

Further, the functional design support method of the present invention is a functional design for simulating a control operation of hardware including a control flow having a plurality of states by using a simulator and displaying an execution process of the simulation on a display screen. A supporting method, a graphic data generating step of analyzing control contents of the control flow in the form of a state transition diagram and generating graphic data indicating the control contents, and the above states and the above states in the graphic data. Relation data generation step of generating relation data indicating the relation with the status code assigned to the transition source state, the transition source state that is the transition source state, the transition destination state that is the transition destination state, and the transition from the transition source state to the transition The branch position to the destination state is analyzed from the graphic data, and the transition source state, the transition destination state, and the branch position are used as conditional branch data. And conditional branch data generating step of forming,
An extraction step of extracting simulation data obtained from the simulator, a current state analysis step of analyzing a current state during execution of simulation based on the relational data and the simulation data obtained in the extraction step, and the conditional branch data. And a path analysis step of analyzing a path of a transition condition between the states based on the simulation data, and a transition path between the current state obtained from the current state analysis step and the state obtained from the path analysis step. A first display step of highlighting on the screen.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A functional design support apparatus which is an embodiment of the functional design support apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The functional design support device of the present embodiment divides and analyzes the state transition of hardware as three state transition rules of conditional branch data described later, previous state code data described later, and relational data described later, and states It is intended to improve the efficiency of debugging the state transition rule by displaying the state transition rule satisfying the transition condition at the time of transition and displaying the operation history of the state transition rule. The above-mentioned state transition rule means a transition route between states according to transition conditions. The functional design support method of the present invention is executed using the functional design support device. Also, as described in the claims,
In the embodiment, the graphic data generating means, the relational data generating means, the conditional branch data generating means, the extracting means, the current state analyzing means, the route analyzing means, the code data changing means, and the coverage data generating means are used as one means. It corresponds to a microprocessor. Also, the first display means and the second
In the embodiments, the display corresponds to one means for performing the function of the display means.

The functional design support apparatus of this embodiment has a configuration as shown in FIG. That is, a mouse 2 and a keyboard 3 for data input are provided as an input device for creating a state transition diagram or the like on a CRT display 1 which is a display device, and a control flow having a plurality of "states" is included. Microprocessor (MPU) that performs various operations in simulation operation of hardware control operation
4 and a simulation program body (simulator) 5 are provided. Further, the graphic data storage means 6, the relational data storage means 7, and the conditional branch data storage means 8 for respectively storing graphic data, relational data, conditional branch data, and previous state code data indicating the control contents represented by the state transition diagram. , And the previous state code data storage means 9. Further, the above-mentioned state code data storage means 9 from the display 1 are electrically connected by the connection line 11. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, a coverage data storage means 10 for storing coverage data may be further connected to the connection line 11 in the configuration shown in FIG.

The operation of the functional design support device thus configured will be described below. In FIG. 3, FIG. 1 and FIG.
FIG. 4 shows a main operation flow of the functional design support device having the configuration shown in FIG. 4, and FIG. 4 shows a sub-flowchart showing a simulation processing operation which is a subroutine of the flowchart of FIG. When the functional design support device is started, as shown in FIG. 3, first, step (“S” in the figure)
1), the input process of the graphic data is executed. In this process, the operator uses the mouse 2 and the keyboard 3 to edit and input the graphic information indicating the control content of the LSI (Large Scale Integrated Circuit) on the CRT display 1 in the form of a state transition diagram. The inputted graphic information is analyzed in a known processing form and is generated as the graphic data shown in Table 1, and the graphic data is stored in the graphic data file 6.

[0010]

[Table 1]

In Table 1, "State S0"
Indicates a "state" labeled "S0", and "p"
"position" indicates the coordinates of the "state" on the screen in the form of (X, Y), and "code 0"
"0" indicates the status code assigned to the "status" labeled "S0" and is "arrow A0 to
“S0” indicates the state transition path labeled “A0”, and the path to the “state” labeled “S0” is indicated by the vertex coordinates according to the “position”. Also, "Branch B0" is "B
It indicates the symbol of the conditional branch labeled "0" and indicates the coordinate on the screen like "position" above. "Condition X = 1" means that the condition of the branch is X = 1. Show, "Yes arrow
"A10 to B1" indicates a state transition path "A10" when the condition is true, and "No allow A11"
to S2 ”is the state transition path“ A1
1 ”. FIG. 6 shows an input display screen on the CRT display in the input processing executed in step 1 above.

Then, in step 2, step 1
By referring to the above-mentioned graphic data obtained in step 1, the related data generation process is executed. The above status code is for judging the "status" during the execution of the simulation, and in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG.
Since there are four "states" of S3, each state code of 00, 01, 10, and 11 consisting of 2 bits has the above S0 to S0.
It is assigned to each "state" of S3. The assigned status code and the corresponding "state" are stored in the relational data storage means 7 as relational data in the format shown in Table 2. The state code data is provided to determine the "state" during the simulation as described above, and depends on the simulator, and therefore detailed description thereof will be omitted.

[0013]

[Table 2]

Then, in step 3, step 1
The generation processing of conditional branch data is executed by referring to the graphic data obtained in (1). Conditional branch data means a transition source state that is a transition source “state” in each “state” transition, a transition destination state that is a transition destination “state”, and the transition source state to the transition destination state. It refers to data indicating a conditional branch that is a branch position. The transition source state, the transition destination state, and the conditional branch are stored in the conditional branch data storage means 8 in the format shown in Table 3. It should be noted that "courseC0 S0 to S1 {X = 1, Z =
1} ”indicates a branch labeled“ C0 ”, and the transition source state“ S0 ”to the transition destination state“ S1 ”.
It indicates that the branching condition to {X = 1, Z = 1}.

[0015]

[Table 3]

Then, in step 4, step 1
Simulation processing is executed by the operation shown in FIG. 4 with respect to the graphic data representing the input display screen created as shown in FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the subroutine of FIG. 3 and showing the simulation processing in step 4. FIG.
First, in step 5, the simulator 5 is started as shown in FIG. Next, in step 6, the extraction process of the simulation data input to the simulator 5 is executed.
Note that this simulation data extraction processing is an operation performed by the simulator 5, so a detailed description of the extraction processing will be omitted.

Next, in step 7, based on the simulation data obtained in step 6 and the relational data generated in step 2, the "current state" where the simulation is currently executed is analyzed. .

Further, in step 8, by referring to the conditional branch data generated in step 3,
Analyze the transition path between "states". Next, in step 9, the transition path between the “current state” and the “state” analyzed in steps 7 and 8 is highlighted on the display 1. At this time, the “previous state”, which is a stage earlier than the “current state”, and the transition route between “states” including the “previous state” are highlighted on the display 1. In this case, after the highlighting in the "previous state" and the transition route is cleared from the display 1, the "current state" and the transition route are highlighted. FIG. 7 shows the input display screen on the CRT display 1 after the display processing in step 9 is executed. In FIG. 7, the “current state” is “S2”, and the “previous state” is “S0”.
1 shows a transition path between “states” of Z = 0. still,
In FIG. 7, the highlighted display is indicated by hatching for the state “S0” and by a bold line for the transition route. Further, in the case of "Z = 0", the judgment of "Z = 1" is NO.
Is the case.

Next, at step 10, in order to know the transition source state at the next simulation cycle, as shown in Table 4, the state code attached to the "current state" obtained at step 7 is Previous status code data 9
Store to. In Table 4, "S00" means "S
“0” indicates “previous state” and the state code is “00”. Steps 6 to 10 are repeated until the simulation is completed (step 11).

[0020]

[Table 4]

As described above, for example, the state "S0"
Run the simulation from to the next state transition. The code data of the "previous state" at this time is represented by, for example, the data shown in Table 4, and when the simulation data is extracted, the code data of the "current state" is 1
When 0, X = 1 and Z = 0, the "current state" is S by referring to the state code data shown in Table 2 and analyzing.
It can be seen that it is 2, and by referring to the conditional branching data in Table 3 and analyzing it, it can be seen that it has passed through C2 of the conditional analysis path. The screen shown in FIG. 7 shows the case where the “current state” and the route of the state transition obtained in this way are highlighted on the display screen. In this way, L represented by the state transition diagram etc.
Input the figure showing the control contents of SI and
It is possible to simulate the operation of SI and to recognize the “current state” and the state transition path on the display screen. Therefore, it is possible to improve the debug environment of the simulation of the control contents input in the state transition diagram or the like.

Next, the operation of the functional design support device having the configuration shown in FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIG.
Even in the functional design support device having the configuration shown in FIG. 2, since the operations from step 5 to step 10 shown in FIG. 4 are the same, the description from step 5 to step 9 in FIG. Omitted. Further, since the operations in steps 1 to 4 and steps 5 to 10 are the same as those described above, the description thereof will be omitted. Step 10 followed by Step 20
Then, the coverage data is generated in the format of Table 5 from the analysis data of the “current state” obtained in step 7 above and the transition route data between the “states” obtained in step 8 above, and the coverage data is generated. Store in data 19. In the state transition simulation, it is necessary to perform a simulation covering all states and all transition paths. Therefore, the coverage data means a data group indicating the states and transition paths covered by the simulation. Moreover, the coverage data is sequentially added during the simulation. Table 5 shows the coverage data at the end of the simulation. The coverage data shown in Table 5 is
According to the simulation, the state “S0” passes through the conditional branch route C0 to the state “S1”, the conditional branch route C4 passes to the state “S0”, the conditional branch route C1 passes to the state “S”.
2 ”, passing through the conditional branch route C5 to the state“ S0 ”, passing through the conditional branch route C2 to the state“ S2 ”, passing through the conditional branch route C5 to the state“ S0 ”.

[0023]

[Table 5]

In step 21, steps 6 to 10, step 20, and step 21 are repeated until the simulation is completed. After the simulation is completed, by referring to the coverage data generated in step 20 in step 22, the “state” that has been executed up to now and the path of the state transition that has been executed are analyzed and executed. Coverage display processing is performed in which all “states” and paths of state transitions are highlighted on the display drawing. FIG. 8 shows an input display screen on the CRT display when the coverage display processing is executed in step 22.

By performing the coverage processing in this way,
It is possible to visually recognize all the “states” and the state transition paths executed by the simulation on the display screen. This facilitates the determination of unnecessary portions in the input graphic. Recently, many entry tool devices have adopted a method of generating a hardware description language equivalent to an input figure and inputting the generated hardware description language into a logic synthesis tool. In this case, it is effective to remove unnecessary graphic points because more accurate logic synthesis can be performed.

[0026]

As described above in detail, according to the functional design support apparatus and the functional design support method of the present invention, for example, an ASIC
It is used for functional designing when designing LSIs, etc., and the current state and transition path during simulation execution are highlighted on the display screen from the control contents input in the form of state transition diagram etc. Therefore, it is possible to improve the debug environment of the simulation of the control content input in the state transition diagram or the like. Further, since the coverage data is also highlighted on the display screen, it becomes easy to determine an unnecessary portion in the input graphic, and the debug environment can be further improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a functional design support device which is an embodiment of a functional design support device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a functional design support device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a basic operation of the functional design support device shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

4 is a flowchart showing an operation of the functional design support device shown in FIG. 1 and showing a subroutine of step 4 shown in FIG.

5 is a flowchart showing an operation of the functional design support device shown in FIG. 2, which is a subroutine of step 4 shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a graphic displayed by the functional design support device shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a case where a current state and a transition route are highlighted by the functional design support device shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a case where coverage data is highlighted by the functional design support device shown in FIG.

[Explanation of Codes] 1 ... Display, 4 ... Microprocessor, 5 ... Simulator, 6 ... Graphic data storage means, 7 ... Relational data storage means, 8 ... Branch condition data storage means, 9 ... Previous status code data storage means, 10 ... Coverage data storage means.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A functional design support device for simulating a control operation of hardware including a control flow having a plurality of states using a simulator, and displaying an execution process of the simulation on a display screen. Of graphic data generating means for analyzing the control content of the control flow in the form of the following to generate graphic data indicating the control content, and the respective states in the graphic data and status codes assigned to the respective states. The relational data generating means for generating relational data indicating a relation, the transition source state that is the transition source state, the transition destination state that is the transition destination state, and the branch position from the transition source state to the transition destination state are described above. Conditional branch data generation means for analyzing the graphic data and generating the transition source state, the transition destination state, and the branch position as conditional branch data. An extracting means for extracting simulation data obtained from the simulator; a current state analyzing means for analyzing a current state during simulation execution based on the relational data and the simulation data obtained by the extracting means; Path analysis means for analyzing the path of the transition condition between the states based on the branch data and the simulation data, and a transition path between the current state obtained from the current state analysis means and the state obtained from the path analysis means. And a first display means for highlighting and on the screen. 2. Code data changing means for generating the current state as previous state code data in order to recognize the current state obtained by the current state analyzing means as the previous state at the next state transition, Coverage data having a current state obtained by the simulation progressing the current state analysis means and a state before being generated by the code data changing means, and a transition route between the states obtained by the route analysis means are provided. A coverage data generating means for generating, and a means for substituting for the first displaying means, the second displaying means for highlighting the coverage data obtained from the coverage data generating means on the screen. 1. The functional design support device described in 1. 3. A functional design support method for simulating a control operation of hardware including a control flow having a plurality of states using a simulator, and displaying an execution process of the simulation on a display screen, which is a state transition diagram. A graphic data generating step of analyzing the control content of the control flow in the form of the following and generating graphic data indicating the control content; and a state code assigned to each state and each state in the graphic data. The relational data generation step of generating relational data indicating a relation, the transition source state that is the transition source state, the transition destination state that is the transition destination state, and the branch position from the transition source state to the transition destination state are described above. Conditional branch data generation step of analyzing from the graphic data and generating the transition source state, the transition destination state, and the branch position as conditional branch data And an extraction step of extracting simulation data obtained from the simulator, a current state analysis step of analyzing a current state during simulation execution based on the relational data and the simulation data obtained in the extraction step, and the condition A path analysis step of analyzing a path of a transition condition between the states based on branch data and the simulation data, and a transition path between the current state obtained from the current state analysis step and the state obtained from the path analysis step. And a first display step of highlighting and on the screen. 4. A code data changing step of generating the current state as previous state code data in order to recognize the current state obtained in the current state analysis step as a previous state at the next state transition, Coverage data having a transition state between states obtained by the current state obtained by the simulation and the current state analysis step and the state before the code data changing step, and the path analysis step, A coverage data generating step of generating, and a step of substituting the first displaying step, the second displaying step of highlighting the coverage data obtained from the coverage data generating step on the screen, The functional design support method described in 3.