Abstract: The present invention adds capabilities to a Hardware Verification Language (HVL) which facilitate the monitoring of a device under test (DUT). The HVL language supports Object-Oriented Programming (or OOP). Within this OOP framework, the present invention provides a monitoring facility comprised of three main stages: i) Coverage Definitions, ii) Coverage Instantiation and Triggering and iii) Coverage Feedback. A coverage definition is very similar to an OOP class definition, but does not contain methods or variables. Instead, the basic purpose of a coverage definition is to declare “monitor bins” in terms of a state variable. Essentially, each monitor bin declaration has a unique bin name which is associated with a particular behavior of the state variable and the unique bin name is used to record the state variable's behavior. Instantiation of a coverage definition produces a coverage instance.

Abstract: The present invention adds capabilities to a Hardware Verification Language (HVL) which facilitate the monitoring of a device under test (DUT). The HVL language supports Object-Oriented Programming (or OOP). Within this OOP framework, the present invention provides a monitoring facility comprised of three main stages: i) Coverage Definitions, ii) Coverage Instantiation and Triggering and iii) Coverage Feedback.