Test Data Compression for System-on-a-Chip using Count Compatible Pattern Run-Length Coding

Abstract

The Count Compatible Pattern Run-Length (CCPRL) coding compression method is proposed to further improve the compression ratio. Firstly, a segment of pattern in the test set is retained. Secondly, don't-care bits are filled so as to make subsequent patterns compatible with the retained pattern for as many times as possible until it can no longer be made compatible. Thirdly, the compatible patterns are represented by symbol "0" (equal) and symbol "1" (contrary) in the codeword. In addition, the number of consecutive compatible patterns is counted and expanded into binary which indicates when the codeword ends. At last, the six largest ISCAS'89 benchmark circuits verify the proposed method, the experimental results show that the average compression ratio achieved is up to 71.73 %.