Structure reuse methodology based on XML Schema for functional level design: A case study in configuration register module

There are several modules with similar structures in a SoC product line. Their contents change a lot in different product and are hard to reuse across projects, which makes similar module design occupy huge resources as brand new one. This paper proposes a methodology to abstract well-verified structures to basic functional building blocks and save them into a library by defining XML Schema. Designers create similar designs using basic building blocks in library at functional level. XML Schema validator carefully checks the structure and constraints of design to eliminate structure errors. XSLT rules translate designs into different file formats to facilitate existing EDA environment seamlessly. As a case study, this methodology was used in design of configuration register module of several SoC chip projects and was proven helpful to quick design creation, safe structure reuse, quality guarantee, and significant engineering efforts reduction.