Re: [sv-ac] Assume proposals.


Subject: Re: [sv-ac] Assume proposals.
From: Adam Krolnik (krolnik@lsil.com)
Date: Wed Sep 17 2003 - 07:33:05 PDT


Hi Joseph;

Proposal #1 is for an assume statement for environmental constraints and for
   constrained stimulus generation.
Proposal #2 is for an immediate (boolean) assume statement, for use in design code.

PSL has 4 verification directives for functionality such as this:
   assume, assume_guarantee, restrict, restrict_guarantee (these last two, only
   for sequences, not properties.)

I can understand a need for part of proposal #1 - constraining a stimulus generator.
But it would seem that if one wants assumptions, they would want both assume and
assume_guarantee types.
The assume statement would be used outside of the design code being verified to
restrict the stimulus/search space to a subset of the legal space.
The assume_guarantee statement would be used inside the design code to define
how the block is intended to be used.

I don't quite see how an immediate assume fits in. I understand how immediate assertion
statements can be used - something instead of "if (!expr) $error()". Joseph, maybe
an example or two to show how you see the immediate assumption being used.

I would like to see assume and assume_guarantee functionality through a combination of
these proposals. This would provide the ability to specify intent of properties
in design code as well as constrain stimulus generation specifically.

Surrendra -

BTW, it seems that the biasing and extra constructs for stimulus generation do not
address temporal constraints. A very simple example is constraining an interface
to 3 transactions in N clocks, or not starting another stimulus source until a
previous one completes.

     Thanks for the proposals guys.

     Adam Krolnik
     Verification Mgr.
     LSI Logic Corp.
     Plano TX. 75074
     Co-author "Assertion Based Design"



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