WO2001093001A2

WO2001093001A2 - Network-based circuit prototyping using a secure server

Info

Publication number: WO2001093001A2
Application number: PCT/US2001/017232
Authority: WO
Inventors: Amr M. Mohsen; Robert Biczek; Thomas B. Huang; Leif Rosqvist; Francis Siu; Mitchell Underseth
Original assignee: Aptix Corporation
Priority date: 2000-05-28
Filing date: 2001-05-25
Publication date: 2001-12-06
Also published as: WO2001093001A3; AU2001263477A1

Abstract

A method and system are provided for prototyping a circuit design using a secure server connected to a network. A customer's client computer transfers an encrypted circuit design to a secure server. An consulting engineer's client computer then connects to the server, accesses the design, and prototypes the design. The prototype is sent to the customer, either as programming files which the customer uses to program a hardware prototype, as a programmed hardware prototype, or as programming files stored in flash memory which the customer uses to program a configurable hardware prototype. In one embodiment, the server is connected to the public network through a firewall and the circuit design file is encrypted. The customer's client computer transfers the circuit design to the server using a password to create through the firewall a virtual public network authorized by the server.

Description

NETWORK-BASED CIRCUIT PROTOTYPING USING A SECURE SERVER

BACKGROUND Once the design of an electronic system or integrated circuit, such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a system-on-a-chip (SOC) is complete, the intended function of the design is typically verified before the electronic system or integrated circuit is built. A design may be verified by building a prototype. Prototyping the circuit by fabricating the design in silicon in an integrated circuit or custom-tooling the design in hardware is expensive and time consuming. Thus, a prototype is often built using field programmable gate arrays connected together on a programmable circuit board to form the intended circuit. The blocks of the circuit design are partitioned into sections that can fit on a single or multiple FPGA and programmed into FPGAs, then the programmed FPGAs are connected together to form the complete block. The blocks of the circuit are then connected to form a prototype of the complete design. The prototype can then be debugged and tested to verify that it functions properly before the design is built in silicon.

Prototyping may be performed by a company that specializes in circuit prototyping. Thus, the entity that performs the circuit prototyping is often separate from the design house that designed the circuit. Typically, circuit prototyping requires the prototyping company to send to the design house a consulting engineer or a team of engineers and all the equipment and software required to prototype the design. Transporting a team of engineers, housing the engineers during the time required to prototype the circuit, and transporting prototyping equipment and software can involve great expense. In addition, the time required to transport the prototyping equipment and set up the prototyping equipment at the design house increases the time required to prototype the circuit and thus increases the time required to get the final integrated circuit in production. In spite of the cost and time required, the prototyping is typically performed at the design house and not at the prototyping company because of concerns that the design would not be secure in the prototyping company, i.e. that the design could be stolen from the prototyping company or discovered by competitors also using the prototyping company. SUMMARY

A system for prototyping a circuit is disclosed which allows a prototyping company to prototype a circuit design without the time and expense of moving people and equipment, and which provides for secure storage and limited, controlled access to a customer's design. The system includes a server and a customer client computer, both connected to a network. The system also includes an engineer client computer, capable of connecting to the server either over a public or private network. A customer with a circuit to prototype downloads the circuit design to the server. A consulting engineer . from a prototyping company then connects to the server and runs software resident on the server to prototype the circuit. In one embodiment an engineer from the customer company can also connect to the server to run the software resident on the server to prototype the circuit. The consulting engineer or the customer's engineer creates programming files which can be used to create a hardware prototype of the circuit. The programming files or a programmed hardware prototype is then shipped to the customer.

In one embodiment, the server is protected from unauthorized access, from the network by a firewall. A customer must register with the prototyping company and receive a password. The password is used to send the circuit design through the firewall to the server. When the customer registers, consulting engineers are assigned to the , customer's project. The engineering team, including in some embodiments the customer's own engineers, is also assigned a password for connecting to the server through the firewall. In addition, the engineering team is granted permission to access the customer's design. Only an engineer with permission can access the customer's design, thus even if the prototyping company is simultaneously prototyping circuit designs of competing design houses, there is no danger that a competitor or an unauthorized consulting engineer working on a competitor's design can access a customer's design.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a network based circuit prototyping system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 2 is a high-level flow diagram of operations performed by the server of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 A is a detailed flow diagram of operations performed by the server of FIG. 1 to register a customer and receive the customer's design, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3B is a detailed flow diagram of operations performed by the engineer client computer of FIG. 1 to register a customer, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3C is a detailed flow diagram of operations performed by the customer client computer of FIG. 1 to register the customer and transfer the customer's design to the server, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a detailed flow diagram of operations performed by the server of FIG. 1 to prototype a design according to an engineer's instructions, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 illustrates an example of data stored in the database of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a system 10 for prototyping a circuit. The system includes a customer client computer 12 connected to a network 14. Network 14 may be a private network or a public network such as the Internet. Customer client computer 12 may be connected to network 14 through a firewall 15C. In one embodiment, an engineer client computer 16 is also connected to network 14. Engineer client computer 16 may be connected to an internal prototyping company network, thus it may be protected from public access by a firewall 15B. A server 18 is connected to network 14. Server 18 may be connected to network 14 through an additional firewall 15 A. A database 17 is connected to secure server 18. Li one embodiment, server 18 is maintained by the prototyping company, thus engineer client computer 16 may connect to server 18 over a private local network instead of a public network such as the Internet. If server 18 is protected by firewall 15 A, regardless of whether engineer client computer 16 connects to server 18 over a public or private network, engineer client computer 16 must penetrate firewall 15A before engineer client computer 16 can access server 18. A customer with a circuit design to be prototyped sends the design 11 from customer client computer 12 over network 14 through firewalls 15A and 15C to secure server 18. Design 11 may be encrypted. The design is stored in database 17. A consulting engineer accesses the design by connecting to secure server 18 from engineer client computer 16 over network 14 through firewalls 15A and 15B. The consulting engineer accesses the customer's design from database 17 using secure server 18. The consulting engineer then sends instructions 13 to software resident on secure server 18 to prototype the customer's design. In one embodiment, the customer's engineers can also access the customer's design and send instructions to server 18 to prototype the circuit. The instructions create programming files which can be used to program a hardware prototype. The programming files or a hardware prototype 19 configured with the customer's design are then sent to the customer. In another embodiment, the programming files are transferred to flash memory which is sent to the customer. The customer then plugs the flash memory into a configurable prototype, and the flash memory programs the configurable prototype with the design. Thus, the programming files themselves may be sent directly to the customer, or the programming files may be used to directly program a hardware prototype which is sent to the customer, or the programming files may be transferred to flash memory which is sent to the customer then used to program a configurable prototype. As used herein, "prototype" refers to programming files sent to the customer, flash memory sent to the customer, or a programmed hardware prototype. "Hardware prototype" refers to hardware programmed with the design by the prototyping company. "Configurable prototype" refers to hardware capable of being programmed with programming files stored in flash memory. Server 18 is secure because it is protected from public network 14 by firewall

15 A. In order to access server 18, a computer outside firewall 15 A must provide a password or decryption key authorizing the outside computer to send information through firewall 15 A. The password or decryption key required to pass through firewall 15A is assigned to engineer client computer 16 and customer client computer 12 during a registration process described in FIG. 3A-3C.

In some embodiments, firewalls 15 A, 15B, and 15C are servers such as Sun Enterprise Ultra 5S available from Sun Microsystems Inc. of Palo Alto, CA. Customer client computer 12 and engineer client computer 16 connect to secure server 18 through firewall 15A using connections known as virtual private networks (NPN). A VPN is set up with the password or key sent to the customer or engineer during registration. Information transmitted over a VPN with a proper password is allowed to pass through firewall 15A to server 18. In one embodiment, firewalls 15A, 15B, and 15C run encryption software such as VPN software available from Check Point Software Technologies Inc. of Redwood City, CA. In one embodiment, secure server 18 such as a Sun Enterprise 450 server computer available from Sun Microsystems Inc. of Palo Alto, CA. Those skilled in the art will recognize that firewalls 15 A, 15B and 15C, server 18, and client computers 12 and 16 may be any kind of suitable computer.

Furthermore, those skilled in the art will recognize that firewalls 15 A, 15B, and 15C are not necessary.

FIG. 2 illustrates, at a high level, operations performed by server 18. In stage 22, server 18 receives a customer's registration information and design data. Server 18 then receives commands from the consulting engineer to perform the circuit prototyping, shown in stage 24. Finally in stage 26, server 18 creates a prototype, either programming files, flash memory, or a hardware prototype.

FIG. 3 A illustrates, in more detail, operations performed by server 18 in registering a new customer and receiving that customer's design, shown in stage 22 of FIG. 2. In stage 302, server 18 receives from engineer client computer 16 registration information of a customer, such as customer contact information and a description of the project. In an alternative, a customer may register directly with server 18, then server 18 forwards the customer's registration information to engineer client computer 16 for assignment of a consulting engineer or a team of engineers. In this embodiment, firewall 15A is configured so that customer registration information may pass without a password, but a password is required to transfer design data for storage in database 17.

When the customer registers a new prototyping project, the customer also negotiates payment for the prototyping company's services. The customer may pay for the consulting engineers services based on predetermined milestones, such as paying for a portion of the prototyping company's fee when all of the blocks of the circuit have been configured in FPGAs, then paying the remaining fee when the complete design has been prototyped. Further, the customer may pay for the hardware prototype outright, or may lease the hardware prototype from the prototyping company.

In stage 304, server 18 receives from engineer client computer 16 the assignment of at least one consulting engineer responsible for the customer's prototyping project. Server 18 then creates a customer account for the customer and assigns the customer a password for downloading data, shown in stage 306. The password is a decryption key which allows the customer to get through firewall 15A to store design data in server 18. A consulting engineer account and password corresponding to the customer is also created, shown in stage 308. In stage 310, server 18 creates a project directory and a project identifier for the customer's project. The project directory stores all the files related to the project, such as files containing customer registration information, the customer's design, and a software archive of the prototyped design. The project identifier is used by engineer client computer 16 to identify the project when the consulting engineer logs in to server 18 to access the customer' s design and prototype the design.

In stage 312, the consulting engineer assigned to the project is granted permission to access the files in the project directory. The consulting engineer has permission to connect to the secure server and use the information stored in the project directory, but the consulting engineer cannot transfer data out of secure server 18. In order to access the customer's design data, a consulting engineer needs both a password for connecting to server 18 through firewall 15A and permission to access the data stored in a particular project. Thus, server 18 can handle several different projects, even projects of competitors, without danger of the consulting engineer assigned to a particular project accessing the data of other projects stored in database 17. Further, the customer may not be granted permission to access the design, thus after a customer's design is transferred to database 17, the customer cannot access any data at all stored in database 17, reducing the possibility that a customer may inadvertently or surreptitiously access a competitor's design.

In stage 314 the password for accessing secure server 18 for both the customer and the consulting engineer are sent to engineer client computer 16. The consulting engineer then forwards the customer's password to customer client computer 12, as described below with reference to FIG. 3B. In stage 316, server 18 receives from customer client computer 12 a request to connect to server 18 and a password. Server 18 checks if the password is authentic in stage 318. If not, the server generates an error message in stage 320 and waits for the next login request. If the password is authentic, server 18 grants customer client computer 12 access and waits for the next command. , hi optional stage 322, server 18 may receive from customer client computer 12 a request to change the customer's password. Server 18 then receives the customer's design in stage 324 and stores the design in database 17 in stage 326.

FIG. 3B illustrates operations performed by the engineer client computer 16 of FIG. 1 when registering a new customer. In stage 330, consulting engineer client 16 receives customer registration information. A consulting engineer is assigned in stage 332. In stage 334, the customer registration information is sent to server 18, along with the consulting engineer assignment. Engineer client computer 16 then receives from server 18 two passwords, one for the customer and one for the engineering team, shown in stage 336. The customer's password is forwarded to customer client computer 12 in stage 338.

FIG. 3C illustrates operations performed by the customer client computer 12 of FIG. 1 when requesting prototyping of a design and transferring the design to server 18. In stage 350, customer client computer 12 sends a request to start a new project and any required registration information to engineer client computer 16. The customer may send this information for example by connecting the prototyping company's public website and filling out a registration form.

Customer client computer 12 then receives from engineer client computer 16 a password for connecting to server 18, shown in stage 352. In optional stage 354, customer client computer 12 may connect to server 18 using the password received in stage 352 and change that password. Customer client computer 12 encrypts the design to be emulated in optional stage 356. The design need not be encrypted. In one embodiment, customer client computer 12 encrypts the design using Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), available from Network Associates, Inc. of Santa Clara, CA. Customer client computer 12 encrypts the design using the public key of a public/private PGP key pair provided by the consulting engineer assigned to the project. The design is later decrypted by the engineer client computer using the private key of the key pair. Any type of suitable encryption may be used to encrypt the design. Once the design is encrypted, customer client computer 12 transfers the encrypted design to server 18 using the password assigned by server 18 to set up a NPN to penetrate firewall 15 A. In one embodiment, server 18 includes a file transfer protocol (ftp) server and the design is transferred by ftp. In some embodiments, the design transferred to server 18 is an RTL netlist, a structural netlist, a gate-level netlist, or a combination of RTL, structural, or gate-level netlists. In some embodiments, gate-level netlists are in EDIF format. Thus, the design may include standard components, such as microprocessors, digital signal processors, or memory chips that are separate parts in the final prototype, not integrated into FPGAs. Such components are not represented as gates in the design files sent by a customer, rather the connections to such components are represented as a structural netlist.

In one embodiment, once the customer transfers the design to server 18, the customer can no longer access the design. The customer is prevented from accessing the design to prevent the customer from making changes to the design which may affect the prototyping work that the engineer assigned to the project has done. In another embodiment, the customer is always able to access, change, and prototype the design. The customer can thus update the design in parallel with the design prototyping performed by the engineering team assigned to the project. In this embodiment, all the changes to the design are tracked by document revision control software such as DesignSync and/or ProjectSync, available from Synchronicity of Marlboro, MA.

FIG. 4 illustrates in more detail one embodiment of operations performed by server 18 of FIG. 1 when a consulting engineer from the prototyping company or a customer's engineer logs in to server 18 to prototype a design sent by a customer, shown at a high level in stage 24 of FIG. 2. In stage 402, server 18 receives from engineer client computer 16 a request to log in, a password, and a project identifier. Server 18 checks if the password is authentic and if the consulting engineer has permission to access the identified project in stage 404. If not, server 18 sends an error message to engineer client computer 16 asking for a valid password and project identifier, then waits for the next request to log in. If the password and project identifier are authentic, server 18 logs in the consulting engineer. In stage 408, server 18 receives a request to retrieve a customer's design from database 17 and retrieves the design. If the design is encrypted, the design is then decrypted using, for example, the private key of a public/private PGP key pair, shown in stage 410.

Server 18 then receives from the consulting engineer commands to access and run prototyping software resident on server 18. The consulting engineer chooses a first block of the design to prototype. In stage 412, server 18 partitions the selected block into sections that will fit on a field programmable gate array (FPGA). In some embodiments, the software used to partition the circuit is Expedition or Logic AggreGATEr, both available from Aptix Corp. of San Jose, CA. The partitioned block is then downloaded into a hardware prototype, i.e. FPGAs mounted on a programmable circuit board. After downloading, the FPGAs containing the first block are connected, shown in stage 414. In one embodiment, the sof ware used to download the partitions into FPGAs and configure the FPGAs is Explorer, available from Aptix Corp. of San Jose, CA. In some embodiments, the hardware prototype platform is System Explorer MP3C or System Explorer MP4, available from Aptix Corp. of San Jose. In some embodiments, the FPGAs used are Xilinx Nirtex and 4000 series FPGAs available from Xilinx Inc. of San Jose, CA. In some embodiments, the FPGAs used are Altera 10K and 20K FPGAs available from Altera of San Jose, CA.

The mapping of the first block of the design to the prototype FPGAs is then verified in stage 416. The prototype is checked to make sure the block functions correctly. In one embodiment, the software used to verify the mapping of the block is Module Verification Platform (MNP), available from Aptix Corp. of San Jose, CA. Stages 412, 414, and 416 are repeated until all blocks of the design have been partitioned, downloaded into FPGAs, and verified.

The blocks are then integrated in stage 420. In one embodiment, the blocks are integrated using Explorer, available from Aptix Corp. of San Jose, CA. In stage 422, the complete circuit prototype of the design is verified. In one embodiment, the overall prototype verification is done by MNP, available from Aptix Corp. of San Jose, CA. In one embodiment, the design is prototyped by connecting together discrete semiconductor components, such as microprocessors, digital signal processors, or memory chips, without prototyping a portion of the design in FPGAs.

After stage 422, the design has been converted into a complete hardware prototype and the prototype verified. The hardware prototype is then sent to the customer. In optional stage 424, an archive of the data used to program the hardware prototype maybe transferred from server 18 to customer client computer 12. In one embodiment, server 18 sends a message to customer client computer 12 asking if the customer wants the design saved in database 17, transferred back to the customer, or destroyed. Server 18 then saves, transfers, or destroys the customer's design according to the response received from customer client computer 12. The customer's original design, the design data used to program the hardware prototype, and any intermediate data files created during the prototyping may be deleted from database 17 in optional stage 426. Though server 18 securely stores the customer's design, the design data may be deleted to further protect the design from unauthorized access.

FIG. 4 illustrates just one embodiment of the invention, where the design is programmed into a hardware prototype which is sent to the customer. In another embodiment, only programming files are sent to the customer, then the customer programs a hardware prototype. In another embodiment, the programming files are transferred to flash memory which is sent to the customer, then the flash memory is plugged into a configurable prototype. The programming files stored on the flash memory then program the configurable prototype with the design.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of the data stored in database 17 of FIG. 1. Database 17 stores the prototyping projects 50A-50N being handled by secure server 18. Each project contains several types of data. Customer registration information files 51A-51N store customers' registration data, such as contact information, billing information, and project descriptions. The consulting engineers and others with permission to access the data stored in each project are stored in files 52A-52N. Passwords and account information assigned to customers and consulting engineers assigned to each project are stored in files 53A-53N. If the project is active, the customer's RTL, structural, or gate-level design is stored in a design file such as files 54A-54N. Intermediate data generated by the consulting engineer during prototyping of the design is stored in a meta data file such as files 55A-55N. If the project is not active, files such as the customer's RTL, structural, or gate-level design file and the meta data may not be saved with the project, though database 17 may retain customer registration information, account and password information, and permissions for completed projects. Embodiments described above illustrate but do not limit the invention. In particular, the invention is not limited to the particular hardware described herein. Further, the invention is not limited to the software or hardware described to perform prototyping, to encrypt data, to control revisions of documents, or to create firewalls or virtual private networks. Other embodiments and variations are within the scope of the invention, as defined by the following claims.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is being claimed is:

1. A system for prototyping an electronic design, the system comprising: a server connected to a network, wherein the server receives an electronic design from a customer client computer; an engineer client computer, wherein the engineer client computer instructs the server to prototype the circuit design in a hardware prototype.

2. The system of Claim 1 wherein the circuit design is received over the public network.

3. The system of Claim 2 wherein the circuit design is received over the public network through a virtual private network.

4. The system of Claim 1 wherein the engineer client computer instructs the server to: partition a portion of the design into a plurality of sections capable of being prototyped on a single field programmable gate array; program a plurality of field programmable gate arrays to prototype the plurality of sections; connect the plurality of field programmable gate arrays to prototype the portion of the design; verify that the programmed and connected plurality of field programmable gate arrays perform the function described by the portion of the design.

5. The system of Claim 1 wherein the server receives a password from the engineer client computer before the engineer client computer instructs the server.

6. The system of Claim 1 wherein the server receives registration information related to the circuit design before the server receives the circuit design, and wherein the server assigns a password.

7. The system of Claim 6 further comprising a firewall connected between the server and the public network, and wherein the firewall: receives the password and the circuit design from the customer client computer; verifies the password; and forwards the circuit design to the server.

8. The system of Claim 1 further comprising a database connected to the server, wherein the circuit design is stored the database after the server receives the circuit design, and wherein the circuit design is deleted from the database after the engineer client computer instructs the server.

9. The system of Claim 1 wherein the circuit design is encrypted and wherein the server receives a decryption key from the engineer client computer and decrypts the circuit design using the decryption key.

10. A method for prototyping a circuit design, the method comprising: a server connected to a public network receiving a circuit design from a customer client computer; the server receiving instructions from an engineer client computer, the instructions comprising instructions for prototyping the circuit design; and sending the prototype to a customer.

11. The method of Claim 10 wherein said receiving a circuit design further comprises receiving the circuit design over the public network.

12. The method of Claim 11 wherein said receiving a circuit design over the public network further comprises receiving the circuit design through a virtual private network.

13. The method of Claim 10 wherein said instructions further comprise instructions for: partitioning a portion of the design into a plurality of sections capable of being prototyped on a single field programmable gate array; programming a plurality of field programmable gate arrays to prototype the plurality of sections; connecting the plurality of field programmable gate arrays to prototype the portion of the design; verifying that the programmed and connected plurality of field programmable gate arrays perform the function described by the portion of the design.

14. The method of Claim 10 further comprising the server receiving a password from the engineer client computer prior to said receiving instructions.

15. The method of Claim 10 further comprising: prior to said receiving a circuit design, the server receiving registration information related to the circuit design; and the server assigning a password.

16. The method of Claim 15 wherein the server is connected to the public network through a firewall, the method further comprising: the firewall receiving the password and the circuit design from the customer client computer; the firewall verifying the password; and the firewall forwarding the circuit design to the server.

17. The method of Claim 10 further comprising: storing the circuit design in a database connected to the server after said receiving a circuit design; and deleting the circuit design from the database after said sending the prototype.

18. The method of Claim 10 wherein the circuit design is encrypted, the method further comprising: the server receiving a decryption key from the engineer client computer; and decrypting the circuit design using the decryption key.

19. A computer data signal transmitted from a customer client computer over a public network, the signal comprising: a circuit design; and a password, the password indicating to a firewall that the customer client computer is authorized to transmit data to a server.

20. The computer data signal of Claim 19 wherein the circuit design is encrypted.

21. A computer data signal transmitted from an engineer client computer over a public network, the signal comprising: an identification of a circuit design stored in a database; instructions to prototype the circuit design; and a password, the password indicating to a firewall that the engineer client computer is authorized to access the circuit design stored in the database.