A hierarchy watermarking technique for IP core protection

The lack of mechanisms to protect the rights of IP creators and owners is a recognized obstacle to reuse-base methodologies. Focusing on the actual counterfeiting process of IP core, a hierarchy watermarking protection method based on constraint concept is presented in this paper. It allows designer to add watermarking in physical and gate levels to protect IP core. And the protection in behavioral level is concerned. The protection strength and compatibility to current design flow are also analyzed