SIMULATING CIRCUIT DESIGN ON A CIRCUIT EMULATION SYSTEM

A circuit transformation software module incorporating the teachings of the present invention is provided to an otherwise conventional emulation system. The circuit transformation software module takes a circuit design as input and transforms it into a "new" circuit design in accordance to a plurality of circuit primitive transformation rules of the present invention, which embodies a circuit state encoding scheme of the present invention. This "new" circuit design when "realized" on the otherwise conventional emulation system in a conventional manner, allows the original circuit design to be simulated on the emulation system, i.e., the response of the original circuit design under various unknown and uncertain conditions can be simulated. As a result, correctness of the original circuit design's responses under these conditions can be correctly ascertained. Additionally, reliability/accuracy of fault simulation results is improved. Furthermore, the present invention may be practiced in conjunction with physical and/or "emulating" emulation systems.