# US 10,372,865 B2 · System design based on unified chip specification > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,372,865 B2 - Document ID: US10372865B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/356,543 - Filed: 2016-11-19 - Published: 2018-05-24 - Granted: 2019-08-06 - Earliest claimed: 2016-11-19 - Assignees: International Business Machines Corporation - Applicants: International Business Machines Corporation - Inventors: Yang Liu; Yong Lu; Peng LM Shao; Jiang Yu - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10372865B2 ## CPC - G06F 30/39: Circuit design at the physical level (physical level design for reconfigurable circuits G06F30/347) - G06F 30/394: Routing (G06F30/396 takes precedence) - G06F 30/327: Logic synthesis; Behaviour synthesis, e.g. mapping logic, HDL to netlist, high-level language to RTL or netlist - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract Disclosed aspects relate to facilitating system design based on unified chip specification. It can be determined based on the system design that a first interface of a first chip is to be connected to a second interface of a second chip. Then a first configuration of the first interface and a second configuration of the second interface are determined based on a unified specification. The unified specification at least specifies configurations of a plurality of chip interfaces for respective usages. A hardware design may be automatically generated based on the first and second configurations. The hardware design may include a hardware-level connection between the first and second interfaces. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A computer-implemented method comprising: determining, based on a system design for a system, that a first interface of a first chip is to be connected to a second interface of a second chip; determining a first configuration of the first interface based on a unified specification, the unified specification at least specifying configurations of a plurality of chip interfaces for respective usages; determining a second configuration of the second interface based on the unified specification; determining a first plurality of registers of the first interface and a second plurality of registers of the second interface involved in a hardware-level connection based on the unified specification; configuring the first plurality of registers and the second plurality of registers based on the unified specification; automatically generating a hardware design for the system based on the first and second configurations, the hardware design including the hardware-level connection between the first and second interfaces; and automatically generating a schematic for the system based on the first and second configurations, the schematic including connections between a first plurality of pins of the first interface and a second plurality of pins of the second interface. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: performing, on the hardware design based on the unified specification, a selection which is selected from the group consisting of: an input/output (I/O) electrical check, an I/O combination check, a strap pin configuration check, and a protocol check. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: generating system firmware code based on the unified specification, the system firmware code, when executed, configuring the system. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein generating the system firmware code comprises: obtaining, from the unified specification, first built-in firmware code for the first chip; obtaining, from the unified specification, second built-in firmware code for the second chip; and generating the firmware code by integrating the first built-in firmware code and the second built-in firmware code. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The method of claim 4, wherein at least one of the first built-in firmware code and the second built-in firmware code includes pseudo code. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: obtaining, from the unified specification, for the system a selection which is selected from the group consisting of: a driver, and an application programming interface (API). ### Claim 7 A device comprising: a processing unit; a memory coupled to the processing unit and storing instructions thereon, the instructions, when executed by the processing unit, performing operations including: determining, based on a system design for a system, that a first interface of a first chip is to be connected to a second interface of a second chip; determining a first configuration of the first interface based on a unified specification, the unified specification at least specifying configurations of a plurality of chip interfaces for respective usages; determining a second configuration of the second interface based on the unified specification; determining a first plurality of registers of the first interface and a second plurality of registers of the second interface involved in a hardware-level connection based on the unified specification; configuring the first plurality of registers and the second plurality of registers based on the unified specification; automatically generating a hardware design for the system based on the first and second configurations, the hardware design including the hardware-level connection between the first and second interfaces; and automatically generating a schematic for the system based on the first and second configurations, the schematic including connections between a first plurality of pins of the first interface and a second plurality of pins of the second interface. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The device of claim 7, wherein the operations further include: performing, on the hardware design based on the unified specification, a selection which is selected from the group consisting of: an input/output (I/O) electrical check, an I/O combination check, a strap pin configuration check, and a protocol check. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The device of claim 7, wherein the operations further include: generating system firmware code based on the unified specification, the system firmware code, when executed, configuring the system. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The device of claim 9, wherein generating the system firmware code comprises: obtaining, from the unified specification, first built-in firmware code for the first chip; obtaining, from the unified specification, second built-in firmware code for the second chip; and generating the firmware code by integrating the first built-in firmware code and the second built-in firmware code. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The device of claim 10, wherein at least one of the first built-in firmware code and the second built-in firmware code includes pseudo code. ### Claim 12 (depends on 7) The device of claim 7, wherein the operations further include: obtaining, from the unified specification, for the system a selection which is selected from the group consisting of: a driver, and an application programming interface (API). ### Claim 13 A computer program product being tangibly stored on a non-transient machine-readable medium and comprising machine-executable instructions, the instructions, when executed on a device, causing the device to: determine, based on a system design for a system, that a first interface of a first chip is to be connected to a second interface of a second chip; determine a first configuration of the first interface based on a unified specification, the unified specification at least specifying configurations of a plurality of chip interfaces for respective usages; determine a second configuration of the second interface based on the unified specification; determining a first plurality of registers of the first interface and a second plurality of registers of the second interface involved in a hardware-level connection based on the unified specification; configuring the first plurality of registers and the second plurality of registers based on the unified specification; automatically generate a hardware design for the system based on the first and second configurations, the hardware design including the hardware-level connection between the first and second interfaces; and automatically generate a schematic for the system based on the first and second configurations, the schematic including connections between a first plurality of pins of the first interface and a second plurality of pins of the second interface. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed on the device, cause the device to: perform, on the hardware design based on the unified specification, a selection which is selected from the group consisting of: an input/output (I/O) electrical check, an I/O combination check, a strap pin configuration check, and a protocol check.