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22 views10 pages

Mail_boxes

Uploaded by

Sai
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SystemVerilog Mailbox

A mailbox is a communication mechanism that allows messages to be


exchanged between processes. The process which wants to talk to another
process posts the message to a mailbox, which stores the messages
temporarily in a system defined memory object, to pass it to the desired
process.

Based on the sizes mailboxes are categorized as,

 bounded mailbox
 unbounded mailbox

A bounded mailbox is with the size defined. mailbox becomes full when on
storing a bounded number of messages. A process that attempts to place a
message into a full mailbox shall be suspended until enough space
becomes available in the mailbox queue.

Unbounded mailboxes are with unlimited size.

Mailbox types

There are two types of mailboxes,

 Generic Mailbox
 Parameterized mailbox

Generic Mailbox (type-less mailbox)

The default mailbox is type-less. that is, a single mailbox can send and
receive data of any type.

mailbox mailbox_name;

Parameterized mailbox (mailbox with particular type)

Parameterized mailbox is used to transfer a data of particular type.


mailbox#(type) mailbox_name;

Mailbox Methods

SystemVerilog Mailbox is a built-in class that provides the following


methods. these are applicable for both Generic and Parameterized
mailboxes

new(); - Create a mailbox

put(); - Place a message in a mailbox

try_put(); - Try to place a message in a mailbox without blocking

get(); or peek();- Retrieve a message from a mailbox

num(); - Returns the number of messages in the mailbox

try_get(); or try_peek(); - Try to retrieve a message from a mailbox without blocking

new( );

Mailboxes are created with the new() method.

mailbox_name = new(); // Creates unbounded mailbox and returns mailbox handle

mailbox_name = new(m_size); //Creates bounded mailbox with size m_size and returns
mailbox handle ,where m_size is integer variable

SystemVerilog Mailbox example

In the example below,


Mailbox is used for communication between generator and driver.

 Process-1(Generator class) will generate (created and randomize) the


packet and put into the mailbox mb_box
 Process-2(Driver class) gets the generated packet from the mailbox
and display the fields

//-------------------------------------------------------------------------

// Packet

//-------------------------------------------------------------------------

class packet;

rand bit [7:0] addr;

rand bit [7:0] data;

//Displaying randomized values

function void post_randomize();

$display("Packet::Packet Generated");

$display("Packet::Addr=%0d,Data=%0d",addr,data);

endfunction

endclass

//-------------------------------------------------------------------------

//Generator - Generates the transaction packet and send to driver

//-------------------------------------------------------------------------

class generator;
packet pkt;

mailbox m_box;

//constructor, getting mailbox handle

function new(mailbox m_box);

this.m_box = m_box;

endfunction

task run;

repeat(2) begin

pkt = new();

pkt.randomize(); //generating packet

m_box.put(pkt); //putting packet into mailbox

$display("Generator::Packet Put into Mailbox");

#5;

end

endtask

endclass

//-------------------------------------------------------------------------

// Driver - Gets the packet from generator and display's the packet items
//-------------------------------------------------------------------------

class driver;

packet pkt;

mailbox m_box;

//constructor, getting mailbox handle

function new(mailbox m_box);

this.m_box = m_box;

endfunction

task run;

repeat(2) begin

m_box.get(pkt); //getting packet from mailbox

$display("Driver::Packet Recived");

$display("Driver::Addr=%0d,Data=%0d\n",pkt.addr,pkt.data);

end

endtask

endclass
//-------------------------------------------------------------------------

// tbench_top

//-------------------------------------------------------------------------

module mailbox_ex;

generator gen;

driver dri;

mailbox m_box; //declaring mailbox m_box

initial begin

//Creating the mailbox, Passing the same handle to generator and driver,

//because same mailbox should be shared in-order to communicate.

m_box = new(); //creating mailbox

gen = new(m_box); //creating generator and passing mailbox handle

dri = new(m_box); //creating driver and passing mailbox handle

$display("------------------------------------------");

fork

gen.run(); //Process-1

dri.run(); //Process-2
join

$display("------------------------------------------");

end

endmodule

Simulator Output
------------------------------------------

Packet::Packet Generated

Packet::Addr=3,Data=38

Generator::Packet Put into Mailbox

Driver::Packet Recived

Driver::Addr=3,Data=38

Packet::Packet Generated

Packet::Addr=118,Data=92

Generator::Packet Put into Mailbox

Driver::Packet Recived

Driver::Addr=118,Data=92

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