Granted Patent B2

US 8,745,447 · App. 12/983,016 · Granted Jun 3, 2014

Abstract

Claims (27)

1. A system for testing a design under test, comprising:

an integrated circuit, including a logic analyzer having an input receiving a plurality of signals from the design under test and an output for providing one or more output signals; and

a computing device coupled to the logic analyzer for receiving the one or more output signals, and including a user interface for facilitating assigning an attribute to at least one signal associated with the logic analyzer, determining a new signal or value not appearing in the design under test and the logic analyzer, the new signal or value being based upon the at least one signal as received from the logic analyzer and upon a predetermined definition, and presenting the new signal or value to a system user.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined definition comprises an arithmetic equation.

3. The system of claim 1 , further comprising memory coupled to the computing device, wherein the predetermined definition is maintained in a configuration file in the memory.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one signal comprises a plurality of output signals provided by the logic analyzer associated with a protocol, the predetermined definition comprises a plurality of transaction types associated with the protocol, and the new signal or value comprises a transaction type selected from the plurality of transaction types.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the user interface, responsive to the system user, applies at least one user-assigned attribute to the at least one signal, each user-assigned attribute having a distinct predetermined definition, and the new signal or value being based upon the at least one signal as received from the logic analyzer and upon the predetermined definitions associated with the at least one user-assigned attribute assigned to the at least one signal.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one signal comprises a plurality of output signals provided by the logic analyzer, and the new signal or value is determined and presented only if the plurality of output signals are provided to the computing device.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the new signal or value comprises a plurality of new signals, wherein a first new signal is determined and presented only if the plurality of output signals are provided to the computing device, and a second new signal is determined and presented if any one of the output signals is provided to the computing device.

8. A method of testing or debugging a system including a logic analyzer having an input receiving a plurality of signals and an output providing one or more output signals, comprising:

receiving from a user at least one attribute for at least one signal coupled to at least one of the input and output of the logic analyzer;

defining a new signal or value for the at least one attribute, the new signal or value not being in the system;

controlling the logic analyzer to sample and store signals, including the at least one signal; and

determining the new signal or value based upon the at least one signal received from the logic analyzer and upon the definition of the new signal or value, and providing a visual presentation of the new signal or value to a system user.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the defining comprises defining the new signal or value based upon an arithmetic equation.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the arithmetic equation includes a value of the at least one signal received from the logic analyzer.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the at least one signal comprises a plurality of signals associated with a communications protocol, and the defining comprises defining a plurality of transaction types of the communications protocol, such that the visual presentation provided comprises a presentation of a selected transaction type.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising determining whether signals received from the logic analyzer include all signals associated with the communications protocol, prior to determining the new signal or value.

13. A computer program product stored in a non-transitory medium for analyzing a system under test having an embedded logic analyzer, the computer program product including software code stored in a storage medium having instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

assign at least one attribute to at least one signal coupled to at least one output of the embedded logic analyzer;

define a new signal or value for the attribute, the new signal or value not being in the system under test, the new signal being defined using at least one of an arithmetic equation and a plurality of transaction events corresponding to a communications protocol;

control the embedded logic analyzer to sample and store signals, including the at least one signal; and

determine the new signal or value based upon the at least one signal received from the embedded logic analyzer and upon the definition of the new signal or value, and provide a visual presentation of the new signal or value to a system user.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein the instructions for defining the new signal or value define the new signal or value based upon an arithmetic equation.

15. The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein the at least one signal comprises a plurality of signals associated with a communications protocol, and the instructions for defining the new signal or value define a plurality of transaction types of the communications protocol, such that the visual presentation provided comprises a presentation of a selected transaction type.

16. The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein the at least one signal comprises a plurality of output signals provided by the embedded logic analyzer, and the new signal or value is determined and presented only if the plurality of output signals are provided by the embedded logic analyzer.

17. The computer program product of claim 16 , wherein the new signal or value comprises a plurality of new signals, wherein a first new signal is determined and presented only if the plurality of output signals are provided by the embedded logic analyzer, and a second new signal is determined and presented if any one of the output signals is provided by the embedded logic analyzer.

Assignments (8)