Patents Assigned to Xilinx, Inc.
  • Patent number: 9722613
    Abstract: A circuit arrangement for enabling a partial reconfiguration of a circuit implemented in an integrated circuit device is described. The circuit arrangement comprises a plurality of circuit blocks, wherein each circuit block is configurable to implement a predetermined function and comprises a control circuit configured to receive a global enable signal and a plurality of global reconfiguration signals; and a routing network coupled to the plurality of circuit blocks for routing the global enable signal and the plurality of global reconfiguration signals to each circuit block of the plurality of circuit blocks; wherein each circuit block of the plurality of circuit blocks is configured to independently receive a local enable signal enabling a partial reconfiguration of the circuit in response to the plurality of global reconfiguration signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2017
    Assignee: XILINX, INC.
    Inventors: David P. Schultz, Weiguang Lu, Paige A. Kolze
  • Publication number: 20170207998
    Abstract: Methods and systems are disclosed for selecting channels for routing signals in a multi-channel switching network. In an example implementation, pairs of the signals that can be routed together over one channel in the multi-channel switching network are determined. A model graph is generated that has a respective vertex for each of the signals. The model graph also includes respective edges for the determined pairs connecting vertices corresponding to signals of the pair. A subset of the edges that includes a maximum number of disjoint edges is determined. Pairs of signals represented by the respective vertices connected by the edge are routed over a respective one of the channels. For vertices not connected to an edge in the subset, the signals represented by the vertices are routed via a respective one of the channels.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 14, 2016
    Publication date: July 20, 2017
    Applicant: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventor: Henri Fraisse
  • Patent number: 9712257
    Abstract: An apparatus, and method therefor, relates generally to a transmitter. In such an apparatus, a decoder is configured to receive a data input and control signals and to generate state signals responsive to a control signal of the control signals and data polarity the data input. Select circuitry is configured to receive coded signals to replace the data input with a pull-up code and a pull-down code of the coded signals responsive to the state signals and the control signals for propagation of the pull-up code and the pull-down code in place of the data input.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2017
    Assignee: XILINX, INC.
    Inventors: Sing Keng Tan, David S. Smith
  • Patent number: 9710582
    Abstract: Implementing a circuit design may include, responsive to a user input selecting a design, executing an implementation script of the design using the processor. Executing the implementation script may generate instructions for generating a circuit design from the design. Responsive to the instructions and using the processor, cores of the design may be automatically instantiated and connected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2017
    Assignee: XILINX, INC.
    Inventors: Sumit Nagpal, Siddharth Rele, Avdhesh Palliwal
  • Patent number: 9710584
    Abstract: Implementing circuitry from an application may include partitioning an array of the application into a plurality of virtual blocks according to a streaming dimension of the array and determining that a first function and a second function of the application that access the array have same access patterns for the virtual blocks of the array. A first-in-first out (FIFO) memory may be included in a circuit design implementing the application. The FIFO memory couples a first circuit block implementing the first function with a second circuit block implementing the second function. Control circuitry is included within the circuit design. The control circuitry may be configured to implement concurrent operation of the first circuit block and the second circuit block by controlling accesses of the first circuit block and the second circuit block to a plurality of buffers in the FIFO memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2017
    Assignee: XILINX, INC.
    Inventors: Kecheng Hao, Hongbin Zheng, Stephen A. Neuendorffer
  • Patent number: 9711194
    Abstract: A circuit for controlling the operation of a memory system having different types of memory is described. The circuit comprises a first memory having a first type of memory element and having a first access time; a second memory having a second type of memory element and having a second access time, wherein the second type of memory element is different than the first type of memory element; a memory control circuit enabling access to the first memory and the second memory; a delay buffer coupled to the second memory to compensate for a difference in the first access time and the second access time; and a circuit for merging outputs of the first memory and delayed outputs of the second memory to generate ordered output data. A method of controlling the operation of a memory system is also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2017
    Assignee: XILINX, INC.
    Inventors: Michaela Blott, Ling Liu, Kornelis A. Vissers
  • Patent number: 9703900
    Abstract: A system level simulation wrapper includes a plurality of port interfaces configured to provide pin accurate and bus cycle accurate communication. The system also includes a switch coupled to the plurality of port interfaces. The switch is selectively configured to communicate with a Cycle Accurate hardware description language (HDL) model of an intellectual property (IP) block or a system level model of the IP block.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 11, 2017
    Assignee: XILINX, INC.
    Inventor: Nikhil A. Dhume
  • Patent number: 9696747
    Abstract: An example a voltage regulator includes: a bias circuit coupled to an output node; a first operational amplifier having a first input coupled to the output node, a second input coupled to a reference voltage node, and an output coupled to a first node; a second operational amplifier having a first input coupled to the output node, a second input coupled to the reference voltage node, and an output coupled to a second node; an output transistor coupled between the output node and a ground node, the output transistor including a gate; first, second, and third stacked transistor pairs each serially coupled between the output node and the ground node, each transistor of the first, second, and third stacked transistor pairs including a gate; and switch circuits configured to selectively couple: the gates of the first and second stacked transistor pairs to the second node; and the gate of the output transistor to the first node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2017
    Assignee: XILINX, INC.
    Inventors: Sing-Keng Tan, Wenyi Song
  • Patent number: 9698970
    Abstract: An example clock delivery system includes a phase-locked loop (PLL) configured to generate a plurality of input clocks, a phase interpolator configured to receive the plurality of input clocks and generate a plurality of output clocks, and a clock data recovery (CDR) circuit configured to receive the plurality of output clocks. The phase interpolator includes a decoder having a plurality of inputs configured to receive binary codes and a respective plurality of outputs configured to output thermometer codes, and a mixer circuitry segmented into a plurality of unit circuits that are enabled or disabled based on bits of the thermometer codes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2017
    Assignee: XILINX, INC.
    Inventor: Junho Cho
  • Patent number: 9696789
    Abstract: An apparatus is disclosed that includes a processing sub-system having a plurality of processor circuits and an interrupt control circuit. The interrupt control circuit is configured to, in response to a peripheral interrupt, initiate performance of a task indicated by the peripheral interrupt by at least one of the plurality of processor circuits. The processing sub-system is configured to generate a power-down control signal in response to suspension of the plurality of processor circuits. A power management circuit disables power to the processing sub-system, including the interrupt control circuit, in response to the power-down control signal. The power management circuit enables power to the processing sub-system in response to a power-up control signal. The apparatus also includes a proxy interrupt control circuit configured to generate the power-up control signal in response to receiving a peripheral interrupt and power to the processing sub-system being disabled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2017
    Assignee: XILINX, INC.
    Inventors: Sagheer Ahmad, Ahmad R. Ansari, Soren Brinkmann
  • Patent number: 9697402
    Abstract: An example method of tracking information for integrated circuits (ICs) that are handled by a plurality of tools during manufacture includes: marking each of IC with a barcode after the ICs have been packaged; performing, at a first tool of the plurality of tools, one or more electrical tests of the ICs and storing electrical characteristics of each IC in association with the barcode of each IC in a database; querying the database with a specification to obtain a set of barcodes for candidate ICs having electrical characteristics that match the specification; scanning, at a second tool of the plurality of tools, the barcode of each of the ICs to select a plurality of ICs each having a respective barcode in the set of barcodes; and segregating the plurality of ICs from the ICs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2017
    Assignee: XILINX, INC.
    Inventors: Tze Hern Khor, Wei Yee Jocelyn Teo, Hung Wei Ng, Chen Huat Ng, Hsao Hsien Yang, Mini Padmanabhan
  • Publication number: 20170168841
    Abstract: In an example, a system-on-chip (SoC) includes a hardware power-on-reset (POR) sequencer circuit coupled to a POR pin. The SoC further includes a platform management unit (PMU) circuit, coupled to the hardware POR sequencer circuit, the PMU including one or more central processing units (CPUs) and a read only memory (ROM). The SoC further includes one or more processing units configured to execute a boot process. The hardware POR sequencer circuit is configured to initialize the PMU. The one or more CPUs of the PMU are configured to execute code stored in the ROM to perform a pre-boot initialization.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 15, 2015
    Publication date: June 15, 2017
    Applicant: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventor: Ahmad R. Ansari
  • Patent number: 9680492
    Abstract: An analog to digital converter (ADC) includes a comparator and a plurality of capacitor pairs coupled between first and second inputs the comparator, where each one of the capacitor pairs corresponds to one of a plurality of cycles used by the ADC to generate a digital value representing a sampled analog voltage. The ADC also includes a voltage detection circuit and a state machine that is configured to, upon determining during a first cycle that the sampled voltage across the first and second inputs satisfies a threshold, maintaining a first pair of the plurality of capacitor pairs in a default state such that the sampled analog voltage is unchanged. Otherwise, the state machine is configured to switch the first pair of the plurality of capacitor pairs to change the sampled analog voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2017
    Assignee: XILINX, INC.
    Inventors: Brendan Farley, Christophe Erdmann
  • Patent number: 9679092
    Abstract: Constraint handling for a circuit design may include determining, using a processor, instances of parameterizable modules of a circuit design associated with constraints based upon a predefined hardware description language attribute within the instances, extracting, using the processor, parameter values from the instances of the parameterizable modules, and generating, using the processor, static constraint files for the instances of the parameterizable modules using the extracted parameter values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2017
    Assignee: XILINX, INC.
    Inventors: Pradip K. Jha, Ravi N. Kurlagunda, David A. Knol, Dinesh K. Monga, Stephen P. Rozum, Sudipto Chakraborty
  • Patent number: 9678150
    Abstract: Various example implementations are directed to circuits and methods for debugging circuit designs. According to an example implementation, waveform data is captured, for a set of signals produced by a circuit design during operation. Data structures are generated for the set of signals and waveform data for the signals is stored in the data structures. Communication channels associated with the set of signals are identified. Waveform data stored in the data structures is analyzed to locate transaction-level events in the set of signal for one or more communication channels. Data indicating locations of the set of transaction-level events is output by the computer system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2017
    Assignee: XILINX, INC.
    Inventors: Graham F. Schelle, Yi-Hua E. Yang, Philip B. James-Roxby, Paul R. Schumacher, Patrick Lysaght
  • Patent number: 9680474
    Abstract: An interconnect element includes: a selection circuit for receiving input signals and having a selection output; a half-latch circuit having an input coupled to the selection output, wherein the half latch circuit comprises a pull-up device; and a common bias circuit coupled to the pull-up device, wherein the common bias circuit is configured to supply a tunable bias voltage to the pull-up device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2017
    Assignee: XILINX, INC.
    Inventors: Anil Kumar Kandala, Srinivasa L. Karumajji, Santosh Yachareni, Sandeep Vundavalli, Udaya Kumar Bobbili, Golla V S R K Prasad
  • Publication number: 20170161419
    Abstract: Disclosed approaches for processing a circuit design include identifying duplicate instances of a module in a representation of the circuit design. A processor circuit performs folding operations for at least one pair of the duplicate instances of the module. One instance of the duplicates is removed from the circuit design, and a multiplexer is inserted. The multiplexer receives and selects one of the input signals to the duplicate instances and provides the selected input signal to the remaining instance. For each flip-flop in the remaining instance, a pipelined flip-flop is inserted. Connections to a first clock signal in the remaining instance are replaced with connections to a second clock signal having twice the frequency of the first clock signal. An alignment circuit is inserted to receive the output signal from the first instance and provide concurrent first and second output signals.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2015
    Publication date: June 8, 2017
    Applicant: Xilinx, Inc.
    Inventors: Ilya K. Ganusov, Henri Fraisse, Ashish Sirasao, Alireza S. Kaviani
  • Patent number: 9674015
    Abstract: A circuit for generating a modulated signal in a transmitter of an integrated circuit is disclosed. The circuit comprises a transmitter driver circuit having a first current path for receiving a first input signal of a pair of differential input signals and a second current path for receiving a second input signal of the pair of differential input signals, the transmitter driver circuit comprising a tail current path coupled to each of the first current path and the second current path; a first current source coupled between a first reference voltage and ground, wherein a first current of the first current source is proportional to the tail current of the tail current path; a first pull-up current source coupled between the first reference voltage and a first output node of the transmitter driver circuit; and a second pull-up current source coupled between the first reference voltage and a second output node of the transmitter driver circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2017
    Assignee: XILINX, INC.
    Inventors: Vassili Kireev, Yu Liao
  • Patent number: 9672094
    Abstract: Fault detection for an interconnect bus includes performing safety register validation including validating correct operation of a safety register in a slave circuit. The safety register is reserved for validation operations. Write bus validation is performed where, over an address range of the slave circuit, received write addresses within the address range are stored in the safety register of the slave circuit and read back by a master circuit for validation. Read bus validation is performed where, over the address range of the slave circuit, received read addresses within the address range are provided back to the master circuit for validation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2017
    Assignee: XILINX, INC.
    Inventors: Meirav O. Nitzan, Edmond Jordan
  • Patent number: 9674081
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus for using dynamic programming to determine the most efficient mapping of a pipeline of virtual flow tables (VFTs) onto a pipeline of physical flow tables (PFTs) in the data plane of a software-defined networking (SDN) device are described. One example method of determining a configuration for an SDN device generally includes receiving a representation of a series of one or more VFTs, each of the VFTs having one or more properties; receiving a representation of a series of one or more PFTs for hardware of the SDN device, each of the PFTs having one or more capabilities; generating, using dynamic programming based on the properties of the VFTs and the capabilities of the PFTs, a mapping of the series of VFTs onto the series of PFTs; and outputting the generated mapping for implementation on the hardware of the SDN device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2017
    Assignee: XILINX, INC.
    Inventors: Weirong Jiang, Gordon J. Brebner