Hardware interface board for connecting an emulator to a network
A disclosed interface between an emulator and a network that is readily scalable. In one aspect, a scalable solution is achieved through a hardware interface board positioned between the network and the emulator to allow proper transfer there between. A computer is separated from and coupled to the hardware interface board and provides the necessary control signals. Because it is done in hardware separated from the computer, the interface board is readily scalable through the simple addition of network chip sets. In another aspect, the interface board can be placed in two modes of operation, a live test mode and a direct test mode. In yet another aspect, packet formats may be changed on the interface board so that it appears to the emulator as if the network is operating at a different data transfer speed than is actually the case.
1. A device comprising:
a hardware interface board configured to couple between a network and a hardware emulator, wherein the hardware interface board comprises:
an emulator connector configured to couple to the hardware emulator;
a network connector configured to connect to the network;
an input/output port configured to couple to a separate computer;
a physical layer network controller coupled between the network connector and the emulator connector, wherein the physical layer network controller is configured to modify a data speed of network packets transmitted between the network via the network connector and the hardware emulator via the emulator connector; and
snoop logic configured to send the network packets being transmitted between the network and the hardware emulator to the separate computer via the input/output port.
2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the separate computer is configured to monitor emulation speed network traffic via the snoop logic and provide visibility of that emulation speed network traffic.
3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the input/output port comprises a universal serial bus controller.
4. The device of claim 1 , further comprising a packet adapter coupled between the physical layer network controller and the emulator connector, the packet adapter configured to alter a format of the network packets transmitted between the network via the network connector and the hardware emulator via the emulator connector.
5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the physical layer network controller comprises a physical interface transceiver.
6. The device of claim 5 , wherein the physical interface transceiver is configured to connect to an Ethernet-based network.
7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the hardware interface board further comprises a switch having:
a first terminal coupled to the physical layer network controller,
a second terminal coupled to the input/output port, and
a third terminal coupled to the emulator connector, the switch configured to selectively connect the first and third terminals or the second and third terminals.
8. The device of claim 7 , further comprising a memory buffer coupled between the switch and the input/output port.
9. The device of claim 1 , wherein the physical layer network controller is a MAC/PHY interface.
10. The device of claim 1 , further comprising a control register coupled between the input/output port and the physical layer network controller, the control register being writeable from the separate computer, which configures the physical layer network controller.
11. The device of claim 1 , wherein the network has a faster data transfer speed than the emulator.
12. An apparatus comprising:
a hardware interface board configured to couple between a network and an emulator, wherein the hardware interface board comprises:
an emulator connector configured to couple to the emulator;
a network connector configured to couple to the network;
an input/output port configured to couple to a separate computer;
means for modifying a speed of packets transmitted between the emulator and the network, wherein the means for modifying is coupled between the emulator connector and the network connector; and
means for snooping the transmissions of the packets between the emulator connector and the network connector, wherein the means for snooping is configured to transmit the snooped network packets to the separate computer via the input/output port.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the hardware interface board further comprising means for transmitting packets between the separate computer and the emulator.