Patent ID: 7366652

Claim:
A method for configuring a co-verification system to simulate and emulate behavior of a circuit described by a netlist as comprising a hierarchy of modules communicating via circuit signals, wherein the co-verification system comprises a first computer, programmable emulation resources, and a communication path between the first computer and the emulation resources, the method comprising the steps of: a. processing the netlist to map the circuit signals to separate addresses of a memory space, b. selecting first partitions of the circuit described by the netlist to be emulated by the emulation resources and selecting second partitions of the circuit to be simulated by the first computer; c. programming the emulation resources to implement a first transactor and to emulate the first partitions by receiving, processing and generating emulator signals representing circuit signals; d. programming the first computer to implement a second transactor and to implement a simulator simulating the second partitions by acquiring, processing and generating signal data representing circuit signal states, wherein the simulator executes write instructions to write signal data it generates to addresses of the memory space to which the circuit signals are mapped and executes read instruction to acquire signal data it processes from address of the memory space to which the circuit signals are mapped; wherein when the simulator executes a write instruction to write to the memory space signal data representing a state of a circuit signal represented by an emulation signal, the second transactor sends a write command indicating the state of the second signal via the communication path, and the first transactor responds to the write command by setting the emulation signal to the indicated state, and wherein when the simulator executes a read instruction to read from the memory space signal data representing a state of a circuit signal represented by an emulation signal, the second transactor transmits a read command via the communication path, the first transactor responds to the read command by determining a state of the emulation signal and returns signal data representing that state to the second transactor via the communication path, and the second transactor provides that signal data to the simulator in response to the read instruction.