Delta-slack propagation for circuit optimization
US8578321B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 29, 2012 |
| Grant date | Nov 5, 2013 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 29, 2032 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F30/3312
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Systems and techniques for optimizing a circuit design are described. When a selected gate is transformed during optimization, it causes a slack value at a pin of the transformed gate to change. The change in the slack value, called the delta-slack, is then propagated through a transitive fanin cone and a transitive fanout cone of the transformed gate to compute the new slack values at all the affected pins of the design. Some embodiments update slack values without propagating arrival and required times, and also without repeatedly evaluating timing arcs to compute gate delays. The updated slack values can be used to compute timing metrics. The timing metrics can be used to decide whether or not to commit the gate transformation to the circuit design.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.