Patent · US Expired

Apparatus for wire routing of VLSI

US5245550A · kind A · utility

51Cited by
6References
6Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJan 15, 1992
Grant dateSep 14, 1993
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 15, 2012

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F30/394
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A wiring route is determined between terminals on an integrated circuit on the basis of information concerning the terminals and areas of the integrated circuit through which a wire can be routed. A mesh memory holds information of mesh points of a wiring area partitioned in a mesh-like pattern. A wavefront memory holds information concerning mesh points constituting the leads of searching point arrays. An expansion point extracting unit selects a source point from the mesh points for a succeeding search from the leading mesh points on the basis of costs. Addresses and costs for mesh points neighboring the source point are calculated. A searching point register holds information concerning the mesh points obtained through the calculation. A determination is made of whether or not the mesh points placed in the searching point register can be searched, and if so they are written to the mesh memory. Duplicate information stored in the searching point register is eliminated. It is then determined whether or not the mesh points corresponding to the terminals to be wired are contained in the searching point register. If so, the wiring route is determined and the process concluded.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.