Patents by Inventor Cindy S. Washburn

Cindy S. Washburn has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11983477
    Abstract: To increase the efficiency of electronic design automation, at an end point of physical design synthesis optimization flow for a putative integrated circuit design having a plurality of nets, identify at least one congested region in the putative integrated circuit design. Identify those of the nets of the putative integrated circuit design traversing through the at least one congested region, to obtain a plurality of candidate nets for demotion. Demote a plurality of selected nets, selected from the plurality of candidate nets for demotion, from an upper routing layer of the putative integrated circuit design to a lower routing layer of the putative integrated circuit design. At least some of the plurality of selected nets experience a loss of timing quality of result after the demoting.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2024
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Lakshmi N. Reddy, Ying Zhou, Cindy S. Washburn, Alexander Joel Suess
  • Publication number: 20230059055
    Abstract: To increase the efficiency of electronic design automation, at an end point of physical design synthesis optimization flow for a putative integrated circuit design having a plurality of nets, identify at least one congested region in the putative integrated circuit design. Identify those of the nets of the putative integrated circuit design traversing through the at least one congested region, to obtain a plurality of candidate nets for demotion. Demote a plurality of selected nets, selected from the plurality of candidate nets for demotion, from an upper routing layer of the putative integrated circuit design to a lower routing layer of the putative integrated circuit design. At least some of the plurality of selected nets experience a loss of timing quality of result after the demoting.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 17, 2021
    Publication date: February 23, 2023
    Inventors: Lakshmi N. Reddy, Ying Zhou, Cindy S. Washburn, Alexander Joel Suess
  • Patent number: 10706194
    Abstract: Systems and methods of performing boundary assertion-based power recovery in integrated circuit design set boundary assertions based on a specified slack value. A boundary defines a set of components of the integrated circuit and setting the boundary assertions includes specifying arrival times at input pins of the set of components and required arrival times at output pins of the set of components. The method includes performing timing analysis of the set of components and performing the power recovery by replacing ones of the set of components based on a result of the timing analysis. The integrated circuit design is provided for fabrication based on completing the power recovery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Alexander J. Suess, Cindy S. Washburn
  • Patent number: 10671791
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for optimizing microprocessor gates in a microprocessor includes receiving, via a processor, a dataset comprising a model of a plurality of gates of a microprocessor; determining, via the processor, whether a transmission line in the model, if implemented in a physical circuit, would result a signal transmission time less than a predetermined threshold time; applying to the model, via the processor, a proposed gate change to one or more of the plurality of gates; evaluating, via the processor and an area degradation based on the proposed gate change; determining, via the processor, a margin value based on the signal transmission time and an area degradation value; and making, via the processor, a gate change decision based on the margin value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2020
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michael A. Kazda, Arjen A. Mets, Lakshmi N. Reddy, Cindy S. Washburn, Nancy Y. Zhou
  • Publication number: 20200089828
    Abstract: Systems and methods of performing boundary assertion-based power recovery in integrated circuit design set boundary assertions based on a specified slack value. A boundary defines a set of components of the integrated circuit and setting the boundary assertions includes specifying arrival times at input pins of the set of components and required arrival times at output pins of the set of components. The method includes performing timing analysis of the set of components and performing the power recovery by replacing ones of the set of components based on a result of the timing analysis. The integrated circuit design is provided for fabrication based on completing the power recovery.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 13, 2018
    Publication date: March 19, 2020
    Inventors: Alexander J. Suess, Cindy S. Washburn
  • Patent number: 10216882
    Abstract: A physical synthesis system includes a path straightening module, an ideal critical point identification (ID) module, and a free-space ID module. The path straightening module identifies at least one meandering critical path of a circuit, and generates a reference curve based on dimensions of the critical path. The ideal critical point ID module identifies at least one critical point on the reference curve. The free-space ID module identifies at least one free-space to receive a gate with respect to at least one critical point. The physical synthesis system further includes a free-space selector module and a gate modification module. The free-space selector module determines a modified slack timing value based on relocating the gate to the at least one free-space. The gate modification module moves the gate to the at least one free-space when the modified slack timing value is greater than an initial slack timing value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 26, 2019
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Jinwook Jung, Frank Musante, Gi-Joon Nam, Shyam Ramji, Lakshmi Reddy, Gustavo Tellez, Cindy S. Washburn
  • Publication number: 20180330039
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for optimizing microprocessor gates in a microprocessor includes receiving, via a processor, a dataset comprising a model of a plurality of gates of a microprocessor; determining, via the processor, whether a transmission line in the model, if implemented in a physical circuit, would result a signal transmission time less than a predetermined threshold time; applying to the model, via the processor, a proposed gate change to one or more of the plurality of gates; evaluating, via the processor and an area degradation based on the proposed gate change; determining, via the processor, a margin value based on the signal transmission time and an area degradation value; and making, via the processor, a gate change decision based on the margin value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 11, 2018
    Publication date: November 15, 2018
    Inventors: Michael A. Kazda, Arjen A. Mets, Lakshmi N. Reddy, Cindy S. Washburn, Nancy Y. Zhou
  • Patent number: 10078722
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for optimizing microprocessor gates in a microprocessor includes receiving, via a processor, a dataset comprising a model of a plurality of gates of a microprocessor; determining, via the processor, whether a transmission line in the model, if implemented in a physical circuit, would result a signal transmission time less than a predetermined threshold time; applying to the model, via the processor, a proposed gate change to one or more of the plurality of gates; evaluating, via the processor and an area degradation based on the proposed gate change; determining, via the processor, a margin value based on the signal transmission time and an area degradation value; and making, via the processor, a gate change decision based on the margin value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2018
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michael A. Kazda, Arjen A. Mets, Lakshmi N. Reddy, Cindy S. Washburn, Nancy Y. Zhou
  • Publication number: 20180121575
    Abstract: A physical synthesis system includes a path straightening module, an ideal critical point identification (ID) module, and a free-space ID module. The path straightening module identifies at least one meandering critical path of a circuit, and generates a reference curve based on dimensions of the critical path. The ideal critical point ID module identifies at least one critical point on the reference curve. The free-space ID module identifies at least one free-space to receive a gate with respect to at least one critical point. The physical synthesis system further includes a free-space selector module and a gate modification module. The free-space selector module determines a modified slack timing value based on relocating the gate to the at least one free-space. The gate modification module moves the gate to the at least one free-space when the modified slack timing value is greater than an initial slack timing value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2016
    Publication date: May 3, 2018
    Inventors: Jinwook Jung, Frank Musante, Gi-Joon Nam, Shyam Ramji, Lakshmi Reddy, Gustavo Tellez, Cindy S. Washburn
  • Publication number: 20170357747
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for optimizing microprocessor gates in a microprocessor includes receiving, via a processor, a dataset comprising a model of a plurality of gates of a microprocessor; determining, via the processor, whether a transmission line in the model, if implemented in a physical circuit, would result a signal transmission time less than a predetermined threshold time; applying to the model, via the processor, a proposed gate change to one or more of the plurality of gates; evaluating, via the processor and an area degradation based on the proposed gate change; determining, via the processor, a margin value based on the signal transmission time and an area degradation value; and making, via the processor, a gate change decision based on the margin value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 13, 2016
    Publication date: December 14, 2017
    Inventors: Michael A. Kazda, Arjen A. Mets, Lakshmi N. Reddy, Cindy S. Washburn, Nancy Y. Zhou