Method and apparatus for testing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9286426-B2
Application number	US-201414259163-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 23, 2014
Priority date	Apr 23, 2014
Publication date	Mar 15, 2016
Grant date	Mar 15, 2016

Abstract

A computer-implemented method, apparatus and computer program product for testing a design, the method comprising receiving a design; receiving a description of a scenario, wherein the scenario relates to execution of the design, wherein the scenario is used for verifying the design; translating the scenario to an input for a verification engine, wherein the verification engine is selected from the group consisting of a simulation engine and a formal analysis engine; activating the engine and providing the input to the engine, whereby the engine outputting a result; and displaying the result.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method performed by a computerized device, comprising:
receiving a design;
receiving a description of a scenario, wherein the scenario relates to execution of the design, wherein the scenario is used for verifying the design;
selecting whether a verification engine to be used is a simulation engine or a formal analysis engine;
translating the scenario to an input for the verification engine as selected;
activating the verification engine as selected, and providing the input to the verification engine, whereby the verification engine outputting a result; and
displaying the result.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said receiving the description of the scenario and said displaying the results utilize a single user interface having at least an input area and an output area.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scenario comprises values of an input signal at different cycles.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the scenario is entered using a spreadsheet-like interface.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein a signal is described by drawing horizontal lines in one or more cells in a spreadsheet using a pointing device.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the spreadsheet-like interface provides for adding at least one graphical element to the wave form signal description.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein a value in the spreadsheet is interpreted in at least two manners based upon the at least one graphical element.

8. The method of claim 4 wherein the spreadsheet-like interface provides an element representing repeating a part of the signal multiple times.

9. The method of claim 4 wherein the spreadsheet-like interface provides an element representing delaying a part of the signal for one or more cycles.

10. The method of claim 4 wherein the spreadsheet-like interface provides for using a macro for entering a scenario.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the scenario is defined based on two or more signals, wherein the scenario defines that the two or more signals are synchronized.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein a feature of the scenario is automatically translated into a coverage goal for the simulation engine and into an exploration goal for the formal analysis engine.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein correctness checker is generated for checking an expected result of the scenario.

14. A computerized apparatus having a processor, the processor being adapted to perform the steps of:
receiving a design;
receiving a description of a scenario, wherein the scenario relates to execution of the design, wherein the scenario is used for verifying the design;
selecting whether a verification engine to be used is a simulation engine or a formal analysis engine;
translating the scenario to an input for the verification engine as selected;
activating the verification engine and providing the input to the verification engine, whereby the verification engine outputting a result; and
displaying the result.

15. The computerized apparatus of claim 14 , comprising a spreadsheet-like interface for entering input comprising a signal, and receiving output.

16. The computerized apparatus of claim 15 wherein the signal is entered as horizontal lines in one or more cells in a spreadsheet.

17. The computerized apparatus of claim 15 wherein the spreadsheet-like interface provides for using a macro for entering a scenario.

18. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium retaining program instructions, which program instructions when read by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:
receiving a design;
receiving a description of a scenario, wherein the scenario relates to execution of the design, wherein the scenario is used for verifying the design;
selecting whether a verification engine to be used is a simulation engine or a formal analysis engine;
translating the scenario to an input for the verification engine as selected;
activating the verification engine and providing the input to the verification engine, whereby the verification engine outputting a result; and
displaying the result.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Bobok Gabor
• Koyfman Shlomit
• Moran Shiri
• Nevo Ziv
• Shurek Gil

Classifications

• G06F30/3323 Primary

  using formal methods, e.g. equivalence checking or property checking · CPC title

• G06F30/33

  Design verification, e.g. functional simulation or model checking · CPC title

• G06F30/30

  Circuit design · CPC title

• G06F17/5045 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F17/5022

  Physics · mapped topic