Method and system for user-defined triggering logic in a hardware description language
View Patent ↗A method and system for user-defined triggering logic in a hardware description language is described. The method includes reading a file containing user-defined triggering logic described in a hardware description language (HDL), inserting and connecting the triggering logic to a circuit described in HDL, and compiling the HDL description of the circuit to generate a register transfer level (RTL) netlist.
1. A method comprising:
reading a file containing user-defined triggering logic used to detect one or more triggering events, the triggering logic described in a hardware description language (HDL);
inserting and connecting the user-defined triggering logic to a circuit described in HDL; and
compiling the HDL description of the circuit that includes the user-defined triggering logic.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein compiling the HDL description of the circuit comprises compiling the HDL description of the circuit to generate a register transfer level (RTL) netlist.
3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising mapping the RTL netlist to a selected technology architecture.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising performing a place and route operation to implement the circuit in the selected technology architecture.
5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising programming the RTL netlist into a programmable hardware device.
6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising debugging the circuit on the programmable hardware device via a debugger.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the triggering logic has a predetermined interface.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the predetermined interface includes a clock signal input.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the predetermined interface includes one or more data signal inputs.
10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the predetermined interface includes one or more control signal inputs.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the one or more control signals are programmable via a debugger.
12. The method of claim 7 , wherein the predetermined interface includes one or more outputs to indicate whether the triggering logic has detected a triggering event.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the triggering logic described in HDL is written by a user and a name of the file is specified by the user.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the user further specifies a name of a top level triggering logic block defined in the file to be connected to the circuit.
15. An article of manufacture comprising:
a machine accessible medium including content that when accessed by a machine causes the machine to perform operations comprising:
reading a file containing user-defined triggering logic used to detect one or more triggering events, the triggering logic described in a hardware description language (HDL);
inserting and connecting the triggering logic to a circuit described in HDL; and
compiling the HDL description of the circuit, including the user-defined triggering logic, to generate a register transfer level (RTL) netlist.
16. The article of manufacture of claim 15 , wherein the machine-accessible medium further includes content that causes the machine to perform operations comprising mapping the RTL netlist to a selected technology architecture.
17. The article of manufacture of claim 16 , wherein the machine-accessible medium further includes content that causes the machine to perform operations comprising performing a place and route operation to implement the circuit in the selected technology architecture.
18. The article of manufacture of claim 17 , wherein the machine-accessible medium further includes content that causes the machine to perform operations comprising programming the RTL netlist into a programmable hardware device.
19. A computer system comprising:
a bus;
a data storage device coupled to the bus; and
a processor coupled to the data storage device, the processor operable to receive instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:
reading a file containing user-defined triggering logic used to detect one or more triggering events, the triggering logic described in a hardware description language (HDL);
inserting and connecting the triggering logic to a circuit described in HDL; and
compiling the HDL description of the circuit, including the user-defined triggering logic, to generate a register transfer level (RTL) netlist.
20. The computer system of claim 19 , wherein the method further comprises mapping the RTL netlist to a selected technology architecture.
21. The computer system of claim 20 , wherein the method further comprises performing a place and route operation to implement the circuit in the selected technology architecture.
22. The computer system of claim 21 , wherein the method further comprises programming the RTL netlist into a programmable hardware device.