Control register templates speed address maps

Semifore, an EDA startup that offers tools and services for generating IC address maps, has developed a partnership with Gary Stringham and Associates that will provide specialized versions of control register templates. These will enable a correct-by-construction approach to managing control register specifications, Semifore claims.

Semifore was founded in 2006 to provide accurate specifications across different design teams. The company developed csrSpec, a high-level language for describing registers, and csrCompiler, which generates the "views" needed by various members of the design team, including RTL designers, verification engineers, software developers and documentation specialists. As such, it claims to generate the files needed to produce a digital IC address map.

Gary Stringham and Associates is an embedded systems training and consulting firm specializing in hardware/firmware interface integration. It has developed the Stringham Templates, which are based on the csrSpec language and are a component of Gary Stringham's workshops. The templates embed "best practices" developed by Stringham.

"Stringham templates make it very easy for designers to follow a standard by giving them a pre-configured set to choose from," said Richard Weber, Semifore CEO, in a statement. "Now they can not only follow the Stringham methodology and checklists, but in many cases leverage his templates for easy, correct-by-construction adherence to design standards."

Semifore's CSR tool suite will be used in Stringham training classes, and will come with a complimentary one-year right to use the products. Weber noted that Semifore users are still free to code up individual register descriptions or build their own templates for csrCompiler.