State chart refinement validation from approximately timed to cycle callable models

Abstract

Most of today's designs use a top-down design flow in which hardware is first implemented at transaction level and, as soon as it's functionality is verified, refined to a register transfer model which is conceptually a cycle true and cycle callable model. Traditionally, both the refinement and its validation are done by hand. We propose a design pattern for both the transaction-level and the cycle callable model that eases both steps: the refinement process is made more intuitive and verifying the cycle callable model is greatly simplified by automatically synchronizing the transaction-level model with the refined model.