Patents Represented by Attorney, Agent or Law Firm D. James Chung
  • Patent number: 6480023
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for implementing fast sum-of-products logic in an FPGA is disclosed. The method includes literal-sharing decomposition of the sum-of-products logic to reduce the number of configurable logic block (CLB) slices required to implement wide fan-in logic functions on an FPGA. The decomposition is performed by combining product terms having similar literal patterns. The apparatus includes a CLB including a plurality of slices and a second-level logic (separate from the slices) circuit to combine the outputs of the slices. Typically, the second-level logic is an OR gate or its equivalent that implements the sum portion of the sum-of-products expression. Alternatively, a combining gate may be included within the slice to combine the output of the slice to output of another slice preceding the first slice. In this case the combing gates of each of the slices are connected in series to sum the result of the product operation of a given slice with the product operations from preceding slices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2000
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2002
    Assignee: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventor: Alireza S. Kaviani