1. Concept of reusability

The concept

A SOC is generally made up of a number of specific functions (figure 1 ), some well-known, others more innovative. The concept of reusability concentrates design resources on the most innovative parts, those that really make the system valuable, relying on reuse for the others: this is IP Reuse.

Here, we have focused on the assembly side of the system, defining the notion of Design With Reuse.

However, the possibility of reusing such blocks is no accident, since it presupposes :

• a specific effort was made at the initial design stage to facilitate and secure reuse; this is known as Design For Reuse;

• that an infrastructure...