Patent ID: 6978410

Claim:
A method of converting test vectors in an original cycle based test language into a target cycle based test language, comprising the following steps of: reading available waveforms defined in the target test language and forming a set of templates depicting the waveforms where each template corresponds to a waveform of the target test language and includes data showing at least a starting value of a segment of waveform and a number of subsequent edges in the waveform; reading the test vectors of the original test language and decomposing a waveform in the test vectors in the original test language into a set of constituent events where each event includes data showing at least a starting value and a number of subsequent edges of the waveform; comparing the template derived from the waveform in the target test language and the set of constituent events derived from the original test language; storing the waveform data in the target test language when a match is detected in the comparison step and retrieving corresponding parameters of the waveform in the test vectors of original test language and storing the parameters in combination with the matched waveform data; repeating the above steps for all of the test waveforms in the original test language, thereby forming representation of the waveforms in the target test language; wherein the step of comparing the template and the constituent event is made at different levels of abstraction determined in advance, in the order of a signal level, a wavekind level where the signal is configured by a plurality of wavekinds, and a character level where the wavekind is configured by a plurality of characters.