Patents Represented by Attorney LeRoy D. Maunu
  • Patent number: 8352898
    Abstract: A method is provided for preparing a plurality of systems that include respective programmable integrated circuits (ICs) of the same type. A plurality of circuit designs is partitioned into a base design and respective supplemental designs. The base design includes a set of input/output pins utilized by any of the plurality of circuit designs. A supplemental bitstream is generated for each of the supplemental designs. A first bitstream is generated for implementing the base circuit design, a communication module, and a reconfiguration module in a first portion of programmable resources of the programmable IC. The reconfiguration module is configured to program, in response to each respective one of the supplemental bitstreams received via the communication module, a second portion of the programmable resources with the supplemental bitstream to implement a corresponding one of the plurality of circuit designs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventor: Martin J. Kellermann
  • Patent number: 8352659
    Abstract: Approaches for communicating data from a source device to a target device. In one approach, a communicated data value is segmented into a plurality of data chunks at the source device. A sequence of interrupt transactions is transmitted from the source device to a system bus. The transmitting of each interrupt transaction in the sequence includes transmitting a target identifier on an address bus of the system bus, and the target identifier of each interrupt transaction in the sequence includes a respective one of the data chunks. The sequence of interrupt transactions from the system bus is received at the target device. The communicated data value is reassembled at the target device from the data chunks in the target identifier of the interrupt transactions in the sequence.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 8, 2013
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventors: Henry E. Styles, Richard S. Ballantyne, Mark Paluszkiewicz, Ralph D. Wittig
  • Patent number: 8330529
    Abstract: Embodiments of a method, apparatus and circuit for voltage regulation are disclosed. One embodiment of a circuit includes a first field effect transistor (FET) having a gate, a drain and a source. A current source is connected to the drain of the FET. A second FET has a source connected to the source of the first FET by a node. The second FET also has a gate. A low-pass filter circuit has an input connected to the gate of the first FET and an output connected to the gate of the second FET.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2012
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventors: Wenfeng Zhang, Qi Zhang
  • Patent number: 8332597
    Abstract: Approaches for synchronizing memory accesses in a dataflow computing system. A compute operation in the dataflow computing system is commenced in response to availability in a dataflow memory of each operand that is required to perform the compute operation. Output data from a compute operation is stored in the dataflow memory at completion of the compute operation. Write and read operations are supported for accessing an external memory. Accesses to the external memory are synchronized by storing synchronization tokens in the data flow memory. Each synchronization token signals when an address in the external memory may be accessed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2012
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventor: David W. Bennett
  • Patent number: 8330517
    Abstract: A method and circuit for operating a bistable latch are provided. The state of input data is latched on a first edge of a clock signal. In response to every first edge of the clock signal, a control circuit causes power boost circuit to couple first and second complementary output nodes of the bistable latch to a power source. In response to detecting stable operation of the bistable circuit, the control circuit causes power boost circuit to decouple the first and second complementary output nodes from the power source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2012
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventor: Ronald L. Cline
  • Patent number: 8329568
    Abstract: In one embodiment of the present invention, a field effect transistor device is provided. The field effect transistor device comprises an active area, including a first semiconductor material of a first conductivity type. A channel region is included within the active area. A gate region overlays the channel region, and the first source/drain region and the second source/drain region are embedded in the active area and spaced from each other by the channel region. The first source/drain region and the second source/drain region each include a second semiconductor material of a second conductivity type opposite of the first conductivity type. A well-tap region is embedded in the active area and spaced from the first source/drain region by the channel region and the second source/drain region. The well-tap region includes the second semiconductor material of the first conductivity type. The first source/drain region and the second source/drain region and the well-tap region are epitaxial deposits.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2012
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventors: Jae-Gyung Ahn, Myongseob Kim, Ping-Chin Yeh, Zhiyuan Wu, John Cooksey
  • Patent number: 8327311
    Abstract: Approaches for generating functions for activating processes in a simulation model. At least two mutually exclusive sub-ranges of a plurality of bits of a net of the circuit design are determined. A respective process set associated with each sub-range of the plurality of bits is determined. The specification of a wakeup function includes for each sub-range of the plurality of bits, a test for a change in value of at least one bit in the sub-range of the plurality of bits, and an initiation of each process in the associated process set in response to a detected change in value of the at least one bit. The specification also includes control, responsive to a detected change in value of at least one bit in one of the sub-ranges, that bypasses a test for a change in value of at least one bit in at least one other of the sub-ranges.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2012
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventors: Hem C. Neema, Sonal Santan, Kumar Deepak
  • Patent number: 8311057
    Abstract: A circuit manages input and output formats of the packets of a communication protocol. The circuit includes representation blocks and distribution and gather blocks coupled to the representation blocks. Each representation block is associated with a respective descriptor of the input and output formats. Each representation block processes a value of the respective descriptor. One or more of the representation blocks is adapted to modify the value of the respective descriptor. For each packet input in the input format, the distribution block distributes the value of each descriptor for the packet to the representation block associated with the descriptor. For each packet output in the output format, the gather block gathers the value of each descriptor for the packet from the representation block associated with the descriptor. The input format is changed to the output format in response to representation blocks modifying the value of the respective descriptor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2012
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael E. Attig, Gordon J. Brebner
  • Patent number: 8311161
    Abstract: Systems and methods detect a communication received at receiving antennas from transmitting antennas. Each transmitting antenna transmits a symbol in a constellation. A sphere detector performs a depth-first search until the depth-first search terminates in response to a terminate signal requesting the result from the sphere detector. The depth-first search evaluates respective distances of one or mode leaf nodes in response to the communication received at the receiving antennas. The depth-first search selects the result from these nodes in response to the respective distances. The result includes a selected leaf node that identifies a corresponding symbol in the constellation for each transmitting antenna, with this symbol detected as transmitted by the transmitting antenna.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2012
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventors: Jorn W. Janneck, Christopher H. Dick
  • Patent number: 8311762
    Abstract: Methods and systems generate a manufacturing test of a programmable integrated circuit and optionally test the programmable integrated circuit with the manufacturing test. A netlist is generated that represents a specific user design implemented in programmable resources of the programmable integrated circuit. The netlist represents user registers that are implemented in a portion of the logic registers of the programmable logic resources. A virtual scan chain is added to the netlist. Scan-test vectors are generated from the netlist using automatic test pattern generation (ATPG). The scan-test vectors serially scan the portion of the logic registers via the virtual scan chain. The scan-test vectors are converted into access-test vectors that access the portion of the logic registers via a configuration port of the programmable integrated circuit. The programmable integrated circuit is optionally tested for a manufacturing defect with the access-test vectors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2012
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventors: Ismed D. Hartanto, Andrew M. Taylor, Shahin Toutounchi
  • Patent number: 8301139
    Abstract: An embodiment of the present invention provides for the ad-hoc configuration of femtocells using spectrum sensing for the selection of spectrum channels. One or more embodiments of the invention determine frequency bands that are not reserved by macrocells in a location, and perform spectrum sensing to determine communication channels in unreserved frequency bands that are being used by other femtocells in range. In this manner, femtocells can be deployed and configured in an ad-hoc manner without external coordination or control between deployed femtocells.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2012
    Assignees: Xilinx, Inc., The Provost, Fellows, Foundation Scholars, and the other members of Board, of the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth, near Dublin
    Inventors: Jorg Lotze, Baris Ozgul, Juan J. Noguera Serra
  • Patent number: 8285944
    Abstract: A write controller controls writing of packet data to a memory, and a read controller controls reading of packet data from the memory. The write controller signals the read controller if a packet is to be discarded. In response to a discard signal from the write controller, the read controller checks whether it is in the midst of processing the packet to be discarded. If the read controller has yet to process the packet to be discarded, then no corrective action is required. However, if the read controller is in the midst of processing the packet to be discarded, then the read controller adjusts its memory read pointer to point to the position in the memory at which it began reading the packet to be discarded.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2012
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventor: Roscoe Conkling Nelson, IV
  • Patent number: 8284772
    Abstract: A method is provided for scheduling a network packet processor. A textual language specification is input of the processing of network packets by the network packet processor. The textual language specification includes memory read actions and modification actions. Each memory read action reads a stored value from a memory of the network packet processor. Each modification action modifies a field of the network packets. An availability is determined for each field read from the network packets for the memory read and modification actions. An availability is determined for each stored value read from the memory for the memory read actions. A look-ahead interval is determined from the availabilities. A respective storage class is determined for the fields for the memory read and modification actions. The respective storage class is one of a bus, a register, and a register with bypass.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2012
    Assignee: XILINX, Inc.
    Inventors: Philip B. James-Roxby, Eric R. Keller
  • Patent number: 8286113
    Abstract: A system and method are provided for verifying implementation of a logic core in a complete bitstream. A logic core bitstream is extracted from the complete bitstream. The logic core bitstream is compared to a reference bitstream of the logic core for a target device. In response to no discrepancy in the comparison of the logic core bitstream and the reference bitstream, a data value is stored indicating that the logic core implementation contained in the complete bitstream is verified.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 9, 2012
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventors: Brendan K. Bridgford, Jason J. Moore, W. Story Leavesley, III, Derrick S. Woods
  • Patent number: 8269516
    Abstract: Disclosed is a contactor interconnect in an integrated circuit device test fixture comprises a plurality of contactor pins enabled to provide electrical contact with the contact points of an integrated circuit device, the contactor pins being mounted in the test fixture; and an electrical circuit coupled to two or more of the contactor pins of the test fixture, wherein the electrical circuit is isolated from other contactor pins of the plurality of contactor pins and wherein the electrical circuit is coupled to the two or more contactor pins by an electronically direct pathway.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2012
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventors: Mohsen H. Mardi, David M. Mahoney
  • Patent number: 8271557
    Abstract: A top-level directory of a virtual file system is created. A hierarchy of directories is created under the top-level directory including creating a first file that contains an architecture description of the multi-device circuit arrangement. The directories have names indicative of the plurality of devices and configurable resources of the plurality of devices of the architecture description specified in the first file. A first set of one or more files is created that contain state data or configuration data for configuring resources of the plurality of devices to perform functions specified by the configuration data. A mapping of the configuration data to the resources of the plurality of devices is determined, and configuration data is stored in the configurable resources according to the mapping.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2012
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventors: Patrick Lysaght, Brandon J. Blodget, Adam P. Donlin, Paul M. Hartke
  • Patent number: 8269566
    Abstract: A tunable resonant circuit includes first and second capacitors that provide a matched capacitance between first and second electrodes of the first and second capacitors. A deep-well arrangement includes a first well disposed within a second well in a substrate. The first and second capacitors are each disposed on the first well. Two channel electrodes of a first transistor are respectively coupled to the second electrode of the first capacitor and the second electrode of the second capacitor. Two channel electrodes of a second transistor are respectively coupled to the second electrode of the first capacitor and to ground. Two channel electrodes of the third transistor are respectively coupled to the second electrode of the second capacitor and to ground. The gate electrodes of the first, second, and third transistors are responsive to a tuning signal, and an inductor is coupled between the first electrodes of the first and second capacitors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2012
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventors: Parag Upadhyaya, Vassili Kireev
  • Patent number: 8271911
    Abstract: Approaches for reporting hardware events from circuitry implemented in an integrated circuit (IC). The IC is configured with a circuit to be analyzed and an event monitor circuit. A process invokes an application programming interface (API) function that references an operating system managed object. The API function includes a parameter value that references the object. The process is operated in a first manner when the object is in a first state. An interrupt signal is generated by the event monitor circuit to the processor in response to an input signal from the circuit under analysis, which initiates execution of an interrupt handler. The object is placed in a second state by the interrupt handler. The process is operated in a second manner different from the first manner in response to the object transitioning to the second state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2012
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventor: Adam P. Donlin
  • Patent number: 8265902
    Abstract: A circuit measures a time interval between a first event and a second event. One or more activity inputs receive a respective signal indicating the first and second events. For each activity input, a respective high-speed serial receiver includes a sampling circuit and a deserializer. The sampling circuit generates sample bits from sampling the respective signal at active edges of a clock signal. The deserializer converts the sample bits into a sequence of parallel data words. The sample bits undergo a first change in response to the first event and a second change in response to the second event. An arithmetic circuit receives the sequence of parallel data words from the respective high-speed serial receiver. The arithmetic circuit determines a number of the sample bits between the first and second changes in the sequence of parallel data words. The number measures the time interval between the first and second events.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2012
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventors: Noel J. Brady, Lionel Barker, Peter H. Alfke
  • Patent number: 8265918
    Abstract: Co-simulation platforms generally include a software-based system and a hardware-based system in which different portions of the circuit design are either simulated in a software-based system or emulated on a hardware-based system. Before a model of circuit design can be co-simulated, the circuit design must be transformed and configured into a form that can execute and interface with a specific hardware-based system. The embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system, and article of manufacture for co-simulation of a portion of a circuit design and achieve an advance in the art by improving co-simulation configuration and setup and providing co-simulation adjustment capabilities during runtime.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2012
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventors: Hem C. Neema, Chi Bun Chan, Kumar Deepak, Nabeel Shirazi