Register and memory map data for a new IP block is captured in a centralized EASI Tools™ Suite database by using the intuitive and powerful graphical applications available in EASI Core and EASI SoC. Typically, an SoC project consists of a set of legacy blocks to which a few new ones are added to create the final system. Therefore, it is probable that memory map descriptions already exist in some format within the design team or group.

The data import challenge

Legacy IP address map data may exist in the following formats

• IP block description tables in an Adobe® FrameMaker® document
• Register and bitfield cells in a Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheet
• HDL interface port declarations in an HDL design file
• Register tags in an in-house XML format
• IP-XACT XML data

The success of data capture depends largely upon the consistency and accuracy of the written documentation. The structure, format and syntax of legacy data differ considerably between organizations and domains. It is also likely that existing file formats are inconsistent within the same organization, e.g. someone uses hex values for reset instead of binary, or perhaps misses out leading zeros. This makes the process for automated data capture a challenge, but with Beach Solutions' capture capabilities these issues are overcome.

Beach Solutions has created many different importers, or parsers, for over 20 different organizations and have proved that through a combination of register data capture and efficient manual system creation, your SoC data can be accurately transferred into the EASI Tools Suite database. As an important added benefit, the Beach Solutions import process will identify and correct many as yet un-identified errors and inconsistencies in your data.

The user of the Beach EASI Tools Suite captures IP data into the EASI Tools database using a combination of the graphical user interfaces and standard automated data capture utilities. This allows for rapid data capture as data is validated and cleaned automatically in a formal manner. Registers and their bitfields are captured using EASI Core and then integrated into a system or platform using EASI SoC. Data is then maintained using graphical data management applications and the design rule checker (DRC). Only this way is the consistency and accuracy of the SoC memory map data ensured and re-use of IP for subsequent SoC derivatives improved.

Industry-standard legacy IP

A design may contain standard IP blocks, like ARM® PrimeCells or a Sonics interconnect block. It is becoming more common for such IP providers to supply their IP in a format that adheres to a de-facto industry standard.


IP stored as IP-XACT data is imported into the EASI Tools Suite in seconds. An importer automatically creates EASI system and IP block data from elements and attributes in the spirit:component schema. The importer includes a validating parser that checks IP-XACT data against the IP-XACT component XML schema and immediately highlights any syntactical errors.

• If the IP-XACT component has a single address block with a simple bus interface, an EASI IP block database with bus interfaces and register data is auto-created.
• If the IP-XACT component is represented with multiple address blocks and shows connectivity through the block, an EASI system database with associated internal bus interconnect and multiple EASI IP block databases with bus interfaces and register data is auto-created.

Custom IP

Organizations store legacy IP that has been developed internally in a variety of differing formats. Beach Solutions offers solutions to address the common scenarios.

Spreadsheet (CSV)

EASI Core and EASI SoC provide a graphical transfer mechanism from a spreadsheet directly into the EASI Tools Suite data management applications. Simply, arrange the columns in the EASI Core or EASI SoC graphical application to match the format of a spreadsheet and copy the data across at the click of a button.

Text

EASI Core provides a proprietary method to automatically capture register data into the EASI Tools Suite database from a simple textual representation of a design. The Textual Language Importer (TIL) has a command line interface so that it can be easily driven by in-house scripts. This importer has been used within customer design flows to enable rapid entry of register-based data and to convert legacy data to EASI data.

XML

XML has become the language of choice by design technology groups for storing register data. However, Beach Solutions identified some time ago that complex and configurable design deliverables cannot be successfully created from register data stored in XML using XSLT transformations. For example, an SoC deliverable may contain data that is arranged from an address map perspective and complicated algorithms must be used to calculate the absolute address of an item viewable from a particular bus master, and this type of information is not easily constructed from a simple register description. Major organizations are experiencing these limitations and adopting the Beach Solutions advanced auto-generation technology to fully automate the generation of the many different SoC deliverables like RTF documentation, verification models etc.

The underlying Beach Solutions database technology contains a generic XML importer. This means your Beach Solutions applications engineer can quickly provide an XML importer that matches your in-house format, so you can experience the benefits of EASI Tools almost immediately.

Many documentation applications provide the ability to save the information as XML. Therefore, the Beach Solutions XML import utility can be used to automatically import existing documents like Adobe FrameMaker files.

Rapid graphically-based data capture

In addition to the automated data importers described above, EASI Core and EASI SoC offer other ways to accelerate the data entry stage.

• Many devices contain the same master and/or slave bus interfaces that adhere to a common bus standard, e.g. ARM AHB or AMBA APB. A user can auto-populate the EASI Tools Suite database with bus interface descriptions with the correct bus ports for an IP block or subsystem with a single mouse click.
• The powerful IP address map viewer graphical utility enables the user to move single item, or a group of items, around the memory map.