KR100456511B1 - Apparatus of searching semiconductor ip and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for automatically extracting the function of an IP (Intellectual Property) used as an essential material when designing a SoC (System on a Chip) in designing a semiconductor circuit.

It is a device that can identify the function by using the data sheet and the HDL of the semiconductor IP. It can be applied to both the case where you want to retrieve only the function sentence and the case where you want to retrieve the function waveform and the sentence together. If applied to the SoC design based on the utility will be great.

Description

Apparatus and method for extracting semiconductor IP functions {APPARATUS OF SEARCHING SEMICONDUCTOR IP AND METHOD THEREOF}

The present invention relates to a device for extracting a semiconductor IP function and a method for extracting a color, and more specifically, to automatically design a function of a semiconductor IP (Intellectual Property) used when designing a semiconductor circuit using a system on a chip (SoC). The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for extracting color.

Recently, in designing a semiconductor circuit, the design is mainly made for a system on a chip (SoC).

Hereinafter, a procedure of designing a hypertext delivery language (HDL) based semiconductor chip according to the prior art will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

First, the behavioral (HD) design proceeds with a focus on the functional design (S10). Next, after going through the RTL HDL design stage to convert this into a semiconductor circuit (S20), proceeds with the design of the netlist level tailored to the application process (S30), and proceeds to the layout design, the final design stage (S40).

This general design process is the same for SoC (System On Chip) design. When designing all the blocks constituting the SoC, it takes a lot of design time. Intellectual Property-based design is highly recommended in recent years.

In other words, get IP from someone and reuse it. In this case, the technical details, production information, and application information of the provided IP must be understood before the IP can be applied to the design. On the other hand, such information is introduced in the data sheet to be delivered, and the actual implementation is made through the delivered RTL source code, test bench, and synthetic script. However, when trying to apply the provided IP to the SoC, the functional aspects must first be grasped, but the reusers often do not understand this very well.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, and to perform the SoC design quickly or in a timely manner through an apparatus and a method that can automatically detect the function of the semiconductor IP received for the SoC design. To make it possible.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus that enables an SoC designer to easily grasp the functional matters for the IP to be used.

1 is a flowchart illustrating a HDL-based semiconductor chip design according to the prior art.

2 is a block diagram of a semiconductor IP function automatic color extraction apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a detailed configuration diagram of the design data input unit of FIG. 2.

4 is a detailed configuration diagram of the format correction unit of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a detailed configuration diagram of the functional color extracting unit of FIG. 2.

6 is a detailed configuration diagram of the function counterpart of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a detailed configuration diagram of the function sentence display unit of FIG. 2.

FIG. 8 is a detailed block diagram of the functional waveform sentence display unit of FIG. 2.

9 is a flowchart of a method for automatically extracting a semiconductor IP function according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

In order to solve the above problem, one aspect of the present invention checks whether a data sheet format and a HDL format match the data sheet and the HDL code of a semiconductor IP, and corrects the mismatched part when it is detected. By comparing the design data input unit to make a predetermined format and the comments included in the data sheet by the sentence and extracting them with the waveform extracted from the HDL code, a pair of functions corresponding to the function sentence and the same comment are paired. Displaying a function sentence storage unit and a function waveform storage unit for storing the function sentence and the waveform received from the function search unit and the function search unit, and a semiconductor IP function, wherein at least one of the function sentence and the corresponding waveform is displayed; A semiconductor having a functional sentence display portion including a functional sentence display and a functional waveform sentence display portion Provide an IP function extraction device.

In the meantime, the display of the semiconductor IP function may display individual or entire function sentences and waveforms corresponding thereto. In addition, examples of the predetermined format may be .HWP, .DOC, or .PDF for data sheets, and HDL languages used by various FPGA companies including VHDL and Verilog for HDL. "Function sentence" means the expression of the function in an arbitrary sentence, and "corresponding waveform" means a circuit diagram that can be recognized by the computer so that the computer can simulate the RTL source code corresponding to the circuit diagram to be implemented. This is the output waveform obtained by applying the test bench, that is, the simulation input waveform, to the changed one.

.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of inputting a data sheet and an HDL code of a semiconductor IP, checking whether the format of the input data sheet and the HDL code is consistent with a predetermined data sheet format and an HDL format; If a part that does not match the format is detected, correcting the format to match the data sheet, and the data sheet extracts a part corresponding to a function by sentence and separates the sentence into sentences, and the HDL code is a waveform for each comment according to the included comment. And a step of comparing the waveform divided by the extracted comment with the retrieved function sentence, and storing a pair of the function sentence and the waveform corresponding to the same function as the comment; It provides a method for extracting a semiconductor IP function comprising the step of displaying at least a function sentence of the corresponding waveform.

Hereinafter, referring to FIG. 2, a semiconductor IP function automatic color extraction apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail. However, embodiments of the present invention may be modified in various forms, and the scope of the present invention should not be construed as being limited by the embodiments described below. Embodiments of the present invention are provided to more fully describe the present invention to those skilled in the art.

The semiconductor IP function extracting device includes a design data input unit 100, a function extracting unit 120, a function sentence storage unit 140, a function waveform storage unit 160, a function sentence display unit 180, and a function waveform sentence display unit 200. It is configured to include.

(Design data input unit 100)

The design data input unit 100 performs a function of receiving design data, and shows a detailed configuration diagram of the design data input unit 100 in FIG. 3. The design data needed to understand the function are typically data sheets, RTL source code, and testbenches. In this case, the RTL source code and test bench are collectively referred to as "HDL". The design data input unit 100 includes a data sheet input unit 102, an HDL code input unit 104, a language check unit 106, a format correction unit 108, a format data sheet unit 110, and a format HDL unit 112. It is configured to include.

Through the data sheet input unit 102 and the HDL code input unit 104, the data sheet and the HDL code of the IP to be reused are input and transmitted to the language check unit 106. The language check unit 106 checks whether or not the data sheet format and HDL format to be used in the apparatus is matched, and if the format is matched to the format used in the apparatus, the language check section 106 returns to the format data sheet unit 110 and the format HDL unit 112. If a part that is directly transmitted and does not match the format to be used in the apparatus is detected, it is sent to the format corrector 108 and corrected to match the format of the apparatus.

Referring to FIG. 4, the detailed configuration of the format corrector 108 will be described in detail. The format corrector 108 may include a mismatched data sheet format inputter 108-1, a mismatched HDL format inputter 108-2, and format data. It consists of a DB unit 108-4 and a format conversion processing unit 108-3, and does not match the format to be used in this apparatus through the inconsistent data format input unit 108-1 and the inconsistent HDL format input unit 108-2. If the format of the data sheet and HDL is not input, the format conversion processing unit 108-3 compares them with the format data DB unit 108-4, and then converts them to match the format (format conversion processing). do. The format conversion processing unit 108-3 prepares data in advance so as to convert a format not used in the apparatus into a format of the apparatus, and sequentially converts the input format data into a format for use in the apparatus. Applicable formats can include .HWP, .DOC, .PDF for datasheets, and HDL languages for VHDL, Verilog, and FPGA companies for HDL.

In this manner, the data sheet format and the HDL format corrected by the format corrector 108 are input to the format data sheet 110 and the format HDL unit 112, respectively, and are input to the function color extracting unit 120. Data sheet formats and HDL formats that do not need correction are also transmitted to the function search unit 120.

(Function color extraction unit 120)

The function extracting unit 120 of FIG. 2 extracts the function of the IP that the IP reuser wants to grasp.

5 is a diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of the functional color extraction unit 120 of FIG. 2. The function extracting unit 120 extracts a part corresponding to the function of the IP. For this purpose, the function sentence extracting unit 122 functions among the contents of the data sheet transmitted from the format data sheet 110 of FIG. 3. Find the part corresponding to each sentence. The retrieved functions are separated into sentences and stored in the function sentence storage unit 124, respectively. The function of the function sentence storage unit 124 is similar to the function sentence storage unit 140 of FIG. 2 (to be described later). Meanwhile, the HDL code received through the format HDL unit 112 of FIG. 3 is separated from the HDL separator 126. The HDL code is separated according to a comment included in the HDL code.

As described above, the HDL code (separated by comments) separated from the extracted function sentence is input to the function correspondence unit 128. In the function correspondence unit 128, a function sentence and a comment are stored for a pair of the same function. Referring to FIG. 6, a detailed configuration of the function counter 128 is described. The function counter 128 includes a function sentence comment comparator 128-1, a waveform extractor 128-2, and a function waveform sentence storage unit. It consists of (128-3). The function sentence comment comparator 128-1 is 1: 1 with the extracted function sentence (stored in the function storage 128 of FIG. 5) of the waveform divided by the comment extracted by the waveform extractor 128-2. Corresponds. The function sentences and the comments included in the waveform extracting unit 128-2 are compared with each waveform, and paired matches are stored in the function waveform sentence storage unit 128-3. It is stored in pairs for the same function.

For example, when grouping a pair, the storage address where the storage address of the function sentence storage unit 140 and the function waveform (including comments) are stored uses the same address in each storage unit. Processing is performed in order of arrival at the comment comparison unit 128-1, and stored. Meanwhile, the waveform extractor 128-2 extracts the waveform by the interaction relationship between the RTL source code and the test bench among the design data received when the HDL is extracted as the waveform. The RTL source code corresponding to the circuit diagram to be implemented is changed to a circuit that can be recognized by the computer so that the computer can be simulated, and the output waveform is obtained by applying a test bench, that is, a simulation input waveform. That is, the same process as performing the functions of the conventional circuit simulator. Function sentences and comments are assumed to be expressed in the same sentence for the same function. The function waveform sentence storage unit 128-3 stores a function sentence and a corresponding waveform (including comments) for each function sentence.

The function sentence storage unit 140 and the function waveform storage unit 160 store the above-described function sentences and function waveforms, respectively. The function sentence storage unit 140 and the function waveform storage unit 160 are not necessarily included, but the function sentence call unit 202 to be described later and the functional sentences stored in the function waveform sentence storage unit 128-3. And the function waveform sentence caller 206 may be directly connected.

(Function sentence display unit 180 and the function waveform sentence display unit 200)

As shown in FIG. 7, the function sentence display unit 180 is divided into an individual function sentence display unit 182 and an entire sentence display unit 184, which is used for individual functions stored in the function sentence storage unit 140. When the individual function sentence display to display the sentences one by one and the entire function to display the sentence is separated into a full sentence display to display all the contents stored in the function sentence storage unit 140. That is, it is used when a person who wants to use the device wants to see only sentences related to a function.

Another display method, the simultaneous display of the sentence and the waveform for the function is displayed through the function sentence waveform display unit 200, and configured to display the waveform corresponding to the function sentence and 1: 1. This allows the functional waveform sentence storage unit 128-3 of FIG. 6 to store the functional sentences and the functional waveforms respectively stored in the functional waveform sentence display unit 200. In this case, for example, a sentence in which the storage address of the function sentence storage unit 140 and the storage address of the function waveform storage unit 160 match with the waveform is displayed.

As shown in FIG. 8, the functional waveform sentence display unit 200 displays the individual waveform and the functional sentence together as shown in FIG. 8, and the functional waveform sentence display unit 204 which displays the entire waveform and the functional sentence together. The individual waveform display displays the function sentences and waveforms stored in the function sentence storage unit 140 and the function waveform storage unit 160 as individual waveforms as necessary, and also displays the corresponding sentences. .

On the other hand, even when displaying the entire waveform, the entire stored waveform can be displayed together with the respective functional sentences. This display of the waveform is understood with reference to FIG. First, the storage address of the waveform stored in the function waveform storage unit 160 and the function sentence storage address of the function sentence storage unit 140 are matched through the storage address extracting unit 210. A function sentence is called up, which is performed by the function sentence caller 202 and the function waveform sentence caller 206. The function sentence call unit 202 is connected to the function sentence storage unit 140 and the function waveform call unit 206 is connected to the function waveform storage unit 160. The individual waveform waveform display unit 204 to display the individual waveform and the corresponding function sentence, and the full waveform sentence display unit 208 to display the entire waveform and function sentence.

Hereinafter, a method of extracting a semiconductor IP function according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 9.

First, the data sheet and the HDL code of the semiconductor IP to be reused are input (S101).

Next, it is checked whether or not the data sheet format, the HDL format and the format of the input data sheet and the HDL code to be used in the apparatus are identical (S103).

If the format matches the format used in the apparatus, the flow proceeds to step S107. If a part that does not match the format to be used in the apparatus is detected, the format is corrected so as to match the format of the apparatus (S105).

If the format is matched in this way, the parts of the data sheet that correspond to the function are searched for by sentence. Each retrieved function is separated into sentences and stored. Separately, the HDL code separates the HDL code according to the included comment (S107).

Next, the comment included with each waveform is compared with the function sentence in order to 1: 1 correspond to the extracted function sentence with the waveform divided by the extracted comment (S109).

Next, a function sentence and a comment are stored in pairs for the same function (S111).

It displays the individual function sentences, displays the entire function in sentences, displays individual waveforms and corresponding function sentences, or displays the entire function and waveforms in various formats according to the user's needs (S113).

Various changes may be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Accordingly, the foregoing description of the embodiments according to the present invention will be provided for purposes of illustration only, and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Through the configuration as described above, the present invention has an effect that can shorten the SoC design period by quickly grasp the function for the IP.

Claims (6)

A design data input unit which inputs the data sheet of the semiconductor IP and the HDL code to check whether the data sheet format matches the predetermined data sheet format and the HDL format, and corrects the mismatched part when the mismatch is detected; A function searcher for searching for each sentence in the data sheet and comparing the comment included with the waveform extracted from the HDL code to a pair corresponding to a function having the same function sentence and comment; A function sentence storage unit and a function waveform storage unit for storing the function sentences and the waveforms received from the function extraction unit; And And a function sentence display unit and a function waveform sentence display unit for displaying the semiconductor IP function, including at least a function sentence of the function sentence and a corresponding waveform. The method of claim 1, The display of the semiconductor IP function is a semiconductor IP function extraction device, characterized in that for displaying the individual or all the functional sentences and the corresponding waveform. The method of claim 1, wherein the format is: The data sheet is .HWP, .DOC, or .PDF, and the HDL is an HDL language used by various FPGA companies including VHDL and Verilog. 2. The semiconductor IP function of claim 1, wherein the storage address of the function sentence storage unit and the storage address of the function waveform storage unit in which the waveforms (including comments) are stored are magnetically stored using the same address in each storage unit. Extraction device. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the HDL includes an RTL source code and a test bench, and the waveform extraction from the HDL is extracted by an interaction relationship between the RTL source code and the test bench. Inputting a data sheet and an HDL code of the semiconductor IP; Checking whether the format of the input data sheet and the HDL code matches a predetermined data sheet format or HDL format; Correcting the format by matching the format when a portion that does not match the format is detected; The data sheet extracts a part corresponding to a function for each sentence and divides the sentence into sentences, and separating the HDL code into a waveform for each comment according to the included comment; Comparing the waveforms divided by the extracted comments with the extracted functional sentences; Storing a pair of waveforms corresponding to the same function as the function sentence and the comment; And And displaying at least one of the function sentences and the corresponding waveforms.