Accurate glitch detection
AssigneeSynopsys, Inc.
InventorsKaushik De, Dipti Ranjan Senapati, Mahantesh D. Narwade, Namit K. Gupta, Rajarshi Mukherjee
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and techniques for detecting design problems in a circuit design are described. A higher-level abstraction of the circuit design can be synthesized to obtain a lower-level abstraction of the circuit design, and a mapping between signals in the higher-level abstraction and the signals in the lower-level abstraction. A design problem can be detected in the circuit design in response to determining that a possible glitch in a signal in the lower-level abstraction is not blocked when an enable signal is assigned a blocking value. The enable signal and the corresponding blocking value are identified by analyzing the higher-level abstraction.
Claims20
In an electronic design automation (EDA) software tool in a computer, a method for detecting design problems in a circuit design, the method comprising:
- analyzing a higher-level abstraction of the circuit design to identify (1) a set of glitch-blocking circuits, and (2) for each glitch-blocking circuit in the set of glitch-blocking circuits:
- (i) an enable signal corresponding to the glitch-blocking circuit, and
- (ii) a blocking value corresponding to the enable signal which, when assigned to the enable signal, is supposed to cause the glitch-blocking circuit to block glitches;
- analyzing a lower-level abstraction of the circuit design to identify a possible glitch in a first signal in the lower-level abstraction of the circuit design, wherein the lower-level abstraction of the circuit design is generated from the higher-level abstraction of the circuit design;
- identifying a first enable signal in the lower-level abstraction of the circuit design that corresponds to a glitch-blocking circuit that is supposed to block glitches in the first signal;
- and
- detecting a design problem in the circuit design in response to determining that the possible glitch in the first signal is not blocked when the first enable signal is assigned a first blocking value corresponding to the first enable signal.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method for detecting design problems in a circuit design, the method comprising:
- analyzing a higher-level abstraction of the circuit design to identify (1) a set of glitch-blocking circuits, and (2) for each glitch-blocking circuit in the set of glitch-blocking circuits:
- (i) an enable signal corresponding to the glitch-blocking circuit, and
- (ii) a blocking value corresponding to the enable signal which, when assigned to the enable signal, is supposed to cause the glitch-blocking circuit to block glitches;
- analyzing a lower-level abstraction of the circuit design to identify a possible glitch in a first signal in the lower-level abstraction of the circuit design, wherein the lower-level abstraction of the circuit design is generated from the higher-level abstraction of the circuit design;
- identifying a first enable signal in the lower-level abstraction of the circuit design that corresponds to a glitch-blocking circuit that is supposed to block glitches in the first signal;
- and
- detecting a design problem in the circuit design in response to determining that the possible glitch in the first signal is not blocked when the first enable signal is assigned a first blocking value corresponding to the first enable signal.
A glitch detection system, comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- a non-transitory storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the glitch detection system to perform a method for detecting design problems in a circuit design, the method comprising:
- analyzing a higher-level abstraction of the circuit design to identify (1) a set of glitch-blocking circuits, and (2) for each glitch-blocking circuit in the set of glitch-blocking circuits:
- (i) an enable signal corresponding to the glitch-blocking circuit, and
- (ii) a blocking value corresponding to the enable signal which, when assigned to the enable signal, is supposed to cause the glitch-blocking circuit to block glitches;
- analyzing a lower-level abstraction of the circuit design to identify a possible glitch in a first signal in the lower-level abstraction of the circuit design, wherein the lower-level abstraction of the circuit design is generated from the higher-level abstraction of the circuit design;
- identifying a first enable signal in the lower-level abstraction of the circuit design that corresponds to a glitch-blocking circuit that is supposed to block glitches in the first signal;
- and
- detecting a design problem in the circuit design in response to determining that the possible glitch in the first signal is not blocked when the first enable signal is assigned a first blocking value corresponding to the first enable signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.