A Method to Convert Concurrent EFSMs with Multi-Rendezvous into Synchronous Sequential Circuits

SUMMARY In this paper, we propose a technique to synthesize a hard-ware circuit from a protocol specification consisting of several concurrent EFSMs with multi-rendezvous specified among their subsets. In our class, each multi-rendezvous can be specified among more than two EFSMs, and several multi-rendezvous can be specified for different combinations of EF-SMs. In the proposed technique, using the information such as current states of EFSMs, input values at external gates and guard expressions, we compose a circuit to evaluate whether each multi-rendezvous can be exe-cuted. If several exclusive multi-rendezvous get executable simultaneously for some combinations of EFSMs, we select one of them according to the priority order given in advance. We compose such a circuit as a combi-national logic circuit so that it works fast. By applying our technique to Abracadabra protocol specified in LOTOS, it is confirmed that the derived circuit handles multi-rendezvous efficiently. key words: communication protocols, multi-rendezvous, concurrent EF-SMs, controller synthesis, synchronous sequential circuits 1