What is LogiBLOX?

LogiBLOX is a graphical interactive tool for creating high-level modules, such as counters, shift registers, and multiplexers. LogiBLOX includes both a library of generic modules and a set of tools for customizing them.

The modules you create with LogiBLOX can be used in designs generated with schematic editors from Aldec^®, Viewlogic^®, Mentor Graphics^®, and Cadence^®, as well as third-party synthesis tools such as Synopsys^® FPGA Compiler, Xilinx Foundation^™, and Exemplar^® Logic.

Use LogiBLOX modules whenever you need a customized version of a standard function. With normal design entry libraries (for example, the Xilinx Unified Library), you are constrained to whatever variations of a given function are provided in that library. Each variation of that type of function (for example, a counter) corresponds to a specific library component having a predefined set of inputs, outputs, and bus widths, and a predefined set of capabilities (loadable, synchronous, and so forth). With LogiBLOX, instead of having a separate component for each variation on a given function, you start with a generic template and tailor its I/O size and functionality according to your specific needs.

This manual describes how to create and process LogiBLOX modules for insertion into a schematic or an HDL-based design. The LogiBLOX graphical user interface (GUI) is available from your schematic editor package. With HDL-based designs, you can use the LogiBLOX Module Selector in its standalone mode to explicitly specify and generate LogiBLOX modules.

You can use LogiBLOX in two ways to design your modules.

• The Module Selector is a graphical user interface available in both schematic and synthesis-based environments. Use it to tailor modules to your requirements. This is the most common way to design modules in LogiBLOX.
  
  
• If you are a library user, you do not have access to the graphical user interface. Instead, you must describe the modules and their dependencies directly on the schematic.
  
  

LogiBLOX supports the following device families.

Table 1_1 Supported Device Families