Automatic Test Program Generation
ConceptAutomatic test program generation is the process of producing executable test cases for a design under test (DUT), typically a microprocessor, by formulating the generation task as a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) and solving it automatically. The most general formulation uses an Extended Conditional Constraint Satisfaction Problem (ECondCSP), an extension of Conditional CSP (CondCSP) that preserves constraint semantics even when referenced variables are inactive, enabling compact modeling of complex verification scenarios driven by user-defined micro-architectural events.
First seen 8/12/2026
Last seen 8/12/2026
Evidence 5 chunks
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WIKI
Automatic Test Program Generation
Overview
Automatic test program generation is the automated construction of test programs (and their expected behaviors) for a design under test (DUT), commonly a microprocessor or other computing device. It is typically cast as a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) so that the generator can systematically produce test cases that satisfy user-specified verification goals rather than relying on hand-written test suites.
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3 connectionsAutomatic test program generation is modeled as an ECondCSP in the disclosed invention.
Automatic test program generation uses a micro-architectural model of the DUT.
Micro-architectural events are the objects that test programs are generated to test.
CITATIONS
10 sources10 citations — click to expand
[1] Automatic test program generation is formulated as a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) in which the generator consumes a micro-architectural model of the DUT and a user request describing micro-architectural events, and emits random test programs together with the expected micro-architectural behavior. Automatic test program generation using extended conditional constraint satisfaction - Intranational Business Machines Corporation
[2] Conditional CSP (CondCSP) generalizes CSP by allowing variables to be active or inactive, with compatibility constraints, activity constraints, and an initial-variable set defining a solution as an assignment to all active variables satisfying all active compatibility and activity constraints. Automatic test program generation using extended conditional constraint satisfaction - Intranational Business Machines Corporation
[3] Test program generation is particularly difficult for CSP or CondCSP because large conditional portions cause constraints to become large and complicated, increasing the probability of modeling errors and motivating compact modeling techniques. Automatic test program generation using extended conditional constraint satisfaction - Intranational Business Machines Corporation
[4] Disclosed embodiments introduce an Extended Conditional Constraint Satisfaction Problem (ECondCSP) that represents conditional constraints in a way that remains meaningful even when some referenced variables are inactive, enabling compact representation and reducing modeling labor and errors. Automatic test program generation using extended conditional constraint satisfaction - Intranational Business Machines Corporation
[5] An ECondCSP constraint is satisfied when either none of its activation requirements hold (trivially satisfied) or exactly one activation requirement holds and its corresponding preserved semantics are satisfied. Automatic test program generation using extended conditional constraint satisfaction - Intranational Business Machines Corporation
[6] The disclosed method for automatically generating test programs receives a description of a system under test with variables and conditional constraints, receives an event definition, generates an ECondCSP preserving constraint semantics for inactive variables, and solves the ECondCSP to produce a test case. Automatic test program generation using extended conditional constraint satisfaction - Intranational Business Machines Corporation
[7] The disclosed method can be embodied as apparatus (a test generator with an ECondCSP builder and a CondCSP solver) or as a computer software product whose instructions on a computer-readable medium perform the test-generation or system-modeling steps. Automatic test program generation using extended conditional constraint satisfaction - Intranational Business Machines Corporation
[8] Solving the ECondCSP may be performed by transforming it into an equivalent CondCSP and using a CondCSP solver; alternatively, in some embodiments the ECondCSP is solved directly without conversion. Automatic test program generation using extended conditional constraint satisfaction - Intranational Business Machines Corporation
[9] The patent describes parsing conditional constraints into parse trees using operator semantics tables; atomic constraints are leaves, logical operators are internal nodes, and merging traverses the tree in depth-first order, combining activation requirements and preserved semantics at each node. Automatic test program generation using extended conditional constraint satisfaction - Intranational Business Machines Corporation
[10] The inventors implemented an automatic test-program generator based on the disclosed embodiments in the Piparazzi test generator, which uses the ECondCSP builder to build complex microprocessor models and test cases with activation requirements and then solves the ECondCSP to produce random test programs for the DUT. Automatic test program generation using extended conditional constraint satisfaction - Intranational Business Machines Corporation