Apparatus and Method for Testing Sub-Systems of a System-on-a-Chip Using a Configurable External System-on-a-Chip

A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on a computing device, causes the computing device to:

• couple a model of a previously verified device to a model of a device under test via a communication interface model;
• program the model of the previously verified device to store and execute a test program for applying one or more tests to the model of the device under test;
• run the test program in the model of the previously verified device to thereby apply the one or more tests to the model of the device under test via the communication interface model;
• and
• verify operation of the device under test based on results of running the test program, wherein:
• the device under test and the previously verified device are both a system-on-a-chip (SoC), the model of the device under test is a SoC model under test,
• the model of the previously verified device is a previously verified SoC model that is an earlier version of a same type of SoC as the SoC model under test,
• the previously verified SoC model and the SoC model under test have a master/slave relationship,
• the previously verified SoC model has a programmable memory model,
• the model of the previously verified device is programmed to store and execute a test program by storing a test operating system in the memory model of the previously verified SoC model,
• the previously verified SoC model acts as a master device in applying the one or more tests using the test operating system to the SoC model under test which acts as a slave device,
• the test operating system applies the same test stimuli to one or more core models of the previously verified SoC model and to the SoC model under test, and
• the test stimuli are stimuli that would be experienced by the device under test when interacting with one or more devices external to the device under test via a peripheral communication interface.

An apparatus for testing a model of a device under test, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory is programmed with instructions, which when executed by the processor, causes the processor to:
• couple a model of a previously verified device to a model of a device under test via a communication interface model;
• program the model of the previously verified device to store and execute a test program for applying one or more tests to the model of the device under test;
• run the test program in the model of the previously verified device to thereby apply the one or more tests to the model of the device under test via the communication interface model;
• and
• verify operation of the device under test based on results of running the test program, wherein:
• the device under test and the previously verified device are both a system-on-a-chip (SoC), the model of the device under test is a SoC model under test,
• the model of the previously verified device is a previously verified SoC model that is an earlier version of a same type of SoC as the SoC model under test,
• the previously verified SoC model and the SoC model under test have a master/slave relationship,
• the previously verified SoC model has a programmable memory model,
• the model of the previously verified device is programmed to store and execute a test program by storing a test operating system in the memory model of the previously verified SoC model,
• the previously verified SoC model acts as a master device in applying the one or more tests using the test operating system to the SoC model under test which acts as a slave device,
• the test operating system applies the same test stimuli to one or more core models of the previously verified SoC model and to the SoC model under test, and
• the test stimuli are stimuli that would be experienced by the device under test when interacting with one or more devices external to the device under test via a peripheral communication interface.