Patent · US Active

Optimizing integrated circuit design through use of sequential timing information

US7743354B2 · kind B2 · utility

28Cited by
1References
33Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 2, 2007
Grant dateJun 22, 2010
Priority date
Expiry dateJul 5, 2028

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F2119/12
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method is provided that includes: determining a minimum clock cycle that can be used to propagate a signal about the critical cycle in a circuit design; wherein the critical cycle is a cycle in the design that has a highest proportionality of delay to number of registers; determining for a circuit element in the circuit design, sequential slack associated with the circuit element; wherein the sequential slack represents a minimum delay from among respective maximum delays that can be added to respective structural cycles of which the circuit element is a constituent, based upon the determined limit upon clock cycle duration; using the sequential slack to ascertain sequential optimization based design flexibility throughout multiple stages of a design flow.

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