Abstract: A computer-implemented method, and associated system and computer program product, for use in a design process for an integrated circuit (IC) comprises dividing a layout of a metal layer of the IC into a grid comprising a plurality of grid regions, calculating a respective weight for each grid region of the plurality of grid regions, and forming a plurality of groups based on a similarity of the respective weights. Each group of the plurality of groups respectively comprises one or more contiguous grid regions of the plurality of grid regions. The method further comprises assigning each group of the plurality of groups to a respective routing width group type of a plurality of routing width group types, and determining a location for one or more separator cells between adjacent groups of the plurality of groups that are of different routing width group types.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
June 11, 2019
Date of Patent:
November 17, 2020
Assignee:
International Business Machines Corporation
Inventors:
Yue Xu, Wen Yin, Tong Zhao, Jin Song Jiang, Yang Liu
Abstract: A method for testing a system-on-a-chip (SoC) is described. The method includes parsing a file to determine functions to be performed by components of the SoC. The method further includes receiving a desired output of the SoC and generating a test scenario model based on the desired output of the SoC. The test scenario model includes a plurality of module representations of the functions and includes one or more connections between two of the module representations. The desired output acts as a performance constraint for the test scenario model. The test scenario model further includes an input of the SoC that is generated based on the desired output, the module representations, and the one or more connections. The test scenario model includes a path from the input via the module representations and the connections to the desired output.
Abstract: An advanced timing mode has a path that originates from a host application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and terminates at a register inside an embedded field programmable gate array (FPGA), bypassing interface cluster registers. The terminating register may be present at a boundary between the host ASIC and the embedded FPGA or deep inside the embedded FPGA. In a clock trunk input with internal divergence timing scenario, a clock output from a phase-locked loop (PLL) in the host ASIC is driven through a clock trunk into the embedded FPGA and, from there, diverges into interface cluster registers and the boundary adjacent to the host ASIC. A clock trunk input with external divergence timing scenario is similar to the internal divergence scenario except that a clock divergence occurs before the clock enters a clock trunk of the embedded FPGA. In a boundary clock input scenario, a PLL drives both the host ASIC and the embedded FPGA interface clusters.
Abstract: A method of making an integrated circuit including identifying a first wire at a first location in an array of wires next to an empty location in a layout of the integrated circuit, adjusting a width of the first wire at the first location, and calculating a performance of a widened wire with regard to a first parameter. The method also includes comparing the calculated performance of the widened wire to a performance threshold of the first parameter, adjusting a degree of width adjustment of the widened wire according to a comparison result, and comparing the calculated performance of the width-adjusted widened wire to the performance threshold of the first parameter.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
June 7, 2019
Date of Patent:
November 10, 2020
Assignee:
TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY LTD.
Abstract: A mobile X-ray apparatus and a method of controlling power in the mobile X-ray apparatus. According to the mobile X-ray apparatus and the method, the mobile X-ray apparatus includes a battery management system that determines whether a battery is shut down when in a forced charge mode, subsequently determines whether the battery exits an over-discharged state, and then controls a power supply to enter a shutdown mode or a normal charge mode according to results of the determining. Thus, it is possible to safely charge the battery.
Abstract: A method and an apparatus for camouflaging an application specific integrated circuit are disclosed. The ASIC comprises a circuit comprising a plurality of interconnected functional logic cells performing a logical function. In one embodiment, the method comprises accepting a coded description of the circuit, wherein the coded description describes the circuit in terms of components comprising a sequential logic component and a virtual camouflage component, generating a logical description of the circuit, the logical description of the circuit comprising a logical description of the virtual camouflage component, and replacing, in the logical description of the circuit, the logical description of the virtual camouflage component with a logical description of a functionally equivalent technology-dependent camouflaged component.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
March 25, 2019
Date of Patent:
October 27, 2020
Assignee:
RAMBUS INC.
Inventors:
Bryan J. Wang, Lap Wai Chow, James P. Baukus, Ronald P. Cocchi
Abstract: A language disclosed herein includes a loop construct that maps to a circuit implementation. The circuit implementation may be used to design or program a synchronous digital circuit. The circuit implementation includes a hardware pipeline that implements a body of a loop and a condition associated with the loop. The circuit implementation also includes the hardware first-in-first-out (FIFO) queues that marshal threads (i.e. collections of local variables) into, around, and out of the hardware pipeline. A pipeline policy circuit limits a number of threads allowed within the hardware pipeline to a capacity of the hardware FIFO queues.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
January 14, 2019
Date of Patent:
October 20, 2020
Assignee:
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
Inventors:
Blake D. Pelton, Adrian Michael Caulfield
Abstract: Disclosed herein is a battery charging system of an electric vehicle charging station, the battery charging system including: a charging unit configured to supply an electrical power to charge a battery of an electric vehicle; a charging cable connected to the charging unit and having a connector attached thereto to correspond to an inlet of the electric vehicle; and a cooling unit disposed at a location where the electric vehicle is parked in charging to supply a cooling air toward the battery of the electric vehicle.
Abstract: A method for a combined formal static analysis of a design code, the method comprising using a lint checker performing Lint checks to identify a suspected violation in the design code; using a formal static analyzer, performing formal checks to identify a suspected property that corresponds to the suspected violation; applying a formal proof technique to determine whether the suspected property is proven or disproved; and if the suspected property is disproved, issuing an alert.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
March 22, 2019
Date of Patent:
October 13, 2020
Assignee:
Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
Inventors:
Maayan Ziv, Hanna Nizar, Kanwar Pal Singh, Sudeep Kumar Srivastava
Abstract: A computer executable tool analyzes a gate-level netlist and uses an analysis result for accelerating a timing-accurate gate-level logic simulation via a parallel processing. The analysis identifies the following elements in the gate-level netlist: (1) netlist wires at partition boundaries for a value propagation; (2) netlist wires whose activities should be suppressed for a better performance; and (3) upstream FFs for partition boundaries to reduce a synchronization overhead. This information is then used to improve a parallel simulation performance.
Abstract: A method of generating an integrated circuit (IC) layout diagram of an IC device includes receiving a layout diagram of the IC device, the IC layout diagram including a gate region having a width across an active region, and a gate via positioned at a location along the width. The location is used to divide the width into a plurality of width segments, an effective resistance of the gate region is calculated based on the plurality of width segments, and the effective resistance is used to determine whether the IC layout diagram complies with a design specification.
Abstract: This application discloses a computing system implementing a functional safety validation tool to locate a vulnerable section of an electronic system described in a circuit design, select safety circuitry configured to monitor the vulnerable section of the electronic system, and modify the circuit design by inserting the safety circuitry and control circuitry into the circuit design. The control circuitry and the safety circuitry can detect faults in the vulnerable section of the electronic system. The functional safety validation tool can generate a logical equivalency check script for the modified circuit design, wherein a logical equivalency checking tool can be utilized to determine whether the modified circuit design is logically equivalent to the circuit design. The functional safety validation tool can generate a test bench for the modified circuit design, wherein at least one verification tool can be utilized in a verification environment to simulate the modified circuit design.
Abstract: Approaches for folding multiply-and-accumulate (MAC) logic in a circuit design involve a design tool recognizing a first instance of the MAC logic and a second instance of the MAC logic. The design tool replaces the first instance of the MAC logic and the second instance of the MAC logic with one instance of pipelined MAC logic. The design tool configures the pipelined MAC logic to input data signals of the first instance of the MAC logic and the second instance of the MAC logic to the pipelined MAC logic at a first clock rate, and switch between selection of the data signals of the first instance of the MAC logic and the second instance of the MAC logic at a second clock rate that is double the first clock rate. The design tool further configures the pipelined MAC logic to pipeline input data signals at the second clock rate, and to capture intermediate results at the second clock rate. The design tool further configures a register to capture output of the pipelined MAC logic at the first clock rate.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
March 6, 2019
Date of Patent:
September 29, 2020
Assignee:
Xilinx, Inc.
Inventors:
Srijan Tiwary, Aman Gayasen, Kumar S. S. Vemuri
Abstract: Various aspects of a technology disclosed herein relate to thermal model obfuscation. A thermal model for a first assembly is received. An obfuscated thermal model is then generated from the thermal model. The generation comprises replacing name or names associated with one or more objects in the first assembly with obfuscated names. The obfuscated thermal model can be used in a thermal simulation of a second assembly, of which the first assembly is a component.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
June 6, 2018
Date of Patent:
September 22, 2020
Assignee:
Mentor Graphics Corporation
Inventors:
John Parry, Robin Bornoff, John Richard Wilson
Abstract: A method for designing a system to be implemented on a target device includes generating bounding boxes on the target device for nets in the system where a bounding box identifies routing resources available for routing its corresponding net. The nets in the system are assigned to a plurality of threads to be routed. The threads are executed so that a plurality of the nets are routed in parallel within their corresponding bounding box.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
October 8, 2018
Date of Patent:
September 22, 2020
Assignee:
Altera Corporation
Inventors:
Vaughn Betz, Jordan Swartz, Vadim Gouterman
Abstract: A circuit design support system, a circuit design support method, a circuit design support program, and a recording medium having the program recorded thereon are provided by which a design can be performed in consideration of the stochastic operation of the stochastic operation element and the influence caused by the stochastic operation of the stochastic operation element on the operation reliability of the circuit can be evaluated.
Abstract: A testing method includes the following operations: performing a place and route procedure according to a netlist file corresponding to a chip to generate first layout data; determining whether to replace a flip-flop circuit in the chip with a gated flip-flop circuit according to the first layout data to generate second layout data; and running a test on the chip according to the second layout data.
Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide a charging protection method, including: measuring a charging voltage, a charging current, and a temperature rise of a charging interface of a charged device; detecting whether the charging voltage falls beyond a preset voltage range, detecting whether the charging current is less than a preset current threshold, and detecting whether the temperature rise is greater than a preset temperature rise threshold; and if a detection result of any one or more of the three items is yes, disconnecting a charging circuit of a charger. Correspondingly, the embodiments of the present invention further provide a charging protection apparatus, which can disconnect a charging circuit in a timely manner when a charging exception occurs, thereby avoiding damage to a charging interface.
Abstract: A system may include a pool of heterogeneous compute units configured to execute an electronic design automation (EDA) application for design or verification of a circuit, wherein the pool of heterogeneous compute units includes compute units with differing computing capabilities. The system may also include a resource utilization engine configured to identify an EDA operation to be performed for the EDA application, select a compute unit among the pool of heterogeneous compute units to execute the EDA operation based on a determined computing capability specific to the selected compute unit, and assign execution of the EDA operation to the selected compute unit.