Patents by Inventor Alessandra Nardi

Alessandra Nardi 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: 11416662
    Abstract: Embodiments disclosed herein describe systems, methods, and products for safety verification of an IC design. A computer executing an illustrative EDA tool may perform a static cone of influence (COI) analysis of a gate-level netlist of the IC design to determine whether faults injected at combinational logic at different COIs are safe or dangerous. The computer may leverage this determination to perform a register-transfer level (RTL) simulation by generating and injecting equivalent faults to sequential logic in the IC design. The computer may further flexibly allow RTL simulations under different assumptions based upon downstream observability of the faults injected to the sequential logic. Because, RTL simulations are significantly faster than the gate-level simulations, the computer may efficiently calculate DC of one or more safety mechanism in the IC design.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: CADENCE DESIGN SYSTEMS, INC.
    Inventors: Antonino Armato, Francesco Lertora, Alessandra Nardi
  • Patent number: 10853545
    Abstract: Devices, methods, non-transitory computer readable media, and other embodiments are described for automatic gate-level functional safety (FS) analysis and associated circuit design operations. One embodiment involves accessing register transfer level (RTL) design data, and accessing a set of FS data associated with an initial circuit design describing one or more failure modes associated with a plurality of circuit elements, an associated FS design criterion for each failure mode of the one or more failure modes, and one or more associations between the plurality of circuit elements and the one or more failure modes. The embodiment then involves generating a gate-level netlist using the RTL design data, mapping the one or more associations between the plurality of circuit elements from the RTL design data and the one or more failure modes to the gate-level netlist, and generating an updated set of FS data using the mapping of the one or more associations to the gate-level netlist.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Assignee: Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Alessandra Nardi, Francesco Lertora, Antonino Armato, Deepak Soi
  • Patent number: 10643011
    Abstract: Devices, methods, computer readable media, and other embodiments are described for design and verification of safety critical electronic systems. Some embodiments integrate functional safety (FS) data with circuit design data for use in electronic design automation (EDA) operations. One embodiment involves a device accessing FS and circuit design data; automatically analyzing register transfer level (RTL) design data using the FS data to perform one or more FS quality checks; and placing and routing the circuit design using the RTL design data and the set of FS data to perform FS-aware placement and routing. In some embodiments, failure modes and associated safety mechanisms to improve safety metrics associated with failure modes are automatically added to the circuit design during EDA operations. In other embodiments, additional FS-aware operations are performed. In some embodiments, the FS data is structured as a single Unified Safety Format (USF) file.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Alessandra Nardi, Antonino Armato
  • Patent number: 9576098
    Abstract: A method for performing leakage analysis includes receiving information specifying an integrated circuit. A neighborhood of shapes associated with the integrated circuit is then determined. Leakage information associated with the integrated circuit is generated based on the neighborhood of shapes. The neighborhood of shapes may be determined by determining a first set of spacings to a boundary of a first cell from an internal shape. A second set of spacings may be determined from the boundary of the first cell to a shape of a second cell. A lithography process may be characterized using the first and second set of spacings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: Synopsys, Inc.
    Inventors: Emre Tuncer, Hui Zheng, Vivek Raghavan, Anirudh Devgan, Amir Ajami, Alessandra Nardi, Tao Lin, Pramod Thazhathethil, Alfred Wong
  • Publication number: 20140181762
    Abstract: A method for performing leakage analysis includes receiving information specifying an integrated circuit. A neighborhood of shapes associated with the integrated circuit is then determined Leakage information associated with the integrated circuit is generated based on the neighborhood of shapes. The neighborhood of shapes may be determined by determining a first set of spacings to a boundary of a first cell from an internal shape. A second set of spacings may be determined from the boundary of the first cell to a shape of a second cell. A lithography process may be characterized using the first and second set of spacings.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2013
    Publication date: June 26, 2014
    Inventors: Emre Tuncer, Hui Zheng, Vivek Raghavan, Anirudh Devgan, Amir Ajami, Alessandra Nardi, Tao Lin, Pramod Thazhathethil, Alfred Wong
  • Patent number: 8572523
    Abstract: A method for performing leakage analysis includes receiving information specifying an integrated circuit. A neighborhood of shapes associated with the integrated circuit is then determined. Leakage information associated with the integrated circuit is generated based on the neighborhood of shapes. The neighborhood of shapes may be determined by determining a first set of spacings to a boundary of a first cell from an internal shape. A second set of spacings may be determined from the boundary of the first cell to a shape of a second cell. A lithography process may be characterized using the first and second set of spacings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2013
    Assignee: Synopsys, Inc.
    Inventors: Emre Tuncer, Hui Zheng, Vivek Raghavan, Anirudh Devgan, Amir Ajami, Alessandra Nardi, Tao Lin, Pramod Thazhathethil, Alfred Wong
  • Patent number: 8473876
    Abstract: A method for performing timing analysis includes receiving information specifying an integrated circuit. A neighborhood of shapes associated with the integrated circuit is then determined. Delay information associated with the integrated circuit is generated based on the neighborhood of shapes. The neighborhood of shapes may be determined by determining a first set of spacings to a boundary of a first cell from an internal shape. A second set of spacings may be determined from the boundary of the first cell to a shape of a second cell. A lithography process may be characterized using the first and second set of spacings.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 20, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2013
    Assignee: Synopsys, Inc.
    Inventors: Emre Tuncer, Hui Zheng, Vivek Raghavan, Anirudh Devgan, Amir Ajami, Alessandra Nardi, Tao Lin, Pramod Thazhathethil, Alfred Wong
  • Patent number: 8307317
    Abstract: A statistical on-chip variation approach to timing analysis permits the automated or semi-automated selection of design-specific margins without requiring complex statistical libraries. By separately addressing the impact of random and systematic variations on timing, a design-specific margin can be obtained and used in downstream OCV analysis. In addition, where statistical libraries are available for some portions of a design, these can be incrementally included in the timing analysis to obtain more accurate results.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2012
    Assignee: Synopsys, Inc.
    Inventors: Amzie Adams, Alessandra Nardi
  • Publication number: 20110289465
    Abstract: A statistical on-chip variation approach to timing analysis permits the automated or semi-automated selection of design-specific margins without requiring complex statistical libraries. By separately addressing the impact of random and systematic variations on timing, a design-specific margin can be obtained and used in downstream OCV analysis. In addition, where statistical libraries are available for some portions of a design, these can be incrementally included in the timing analysis to obtain more accurate results.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 1, 2011
    Publication date: November 24, 2011
    Inventors: Amzie Adams, Alessandra Nardi
  • Patent number: 7992114
    Abstract: A statistical on-chip variation approach to timing analysis permits the automated or semi-automated selection of design-specific margins without requiring complex statistical libraries. By separately addressing the impact of random and systematic variations on timing, a design-specific margin can be obtained and used in downstream OCV analysis. In addition, where statistical libraries are available for some portions of a design, these can be incrementally included in the timing analysis to obtain more accurate results.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 19, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2011
    Assignee: Magma Design Automation, Inc.
    Inventors: Amzie Adams, Alessandra Nardi
  • Patent number: 7458049
    Abstract: A system and a method are disclosed for circuit analysis. A circuit modeling system calculates sensitivities of gates for statistical static timing analysis of a circuit. Timing distribution sensitivities of gates and correlations between the sensitivities are determined. A Monte Carlo simulation is run using the sensitivities to determine timing distribution of paths and determine probabilities of paths being the critical path. Aggregate sensitivities for cells are also determined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 25, 2008
    Assignee: Magma Design Automation, Inc.
    Inventors: Emre Tuncer, Alessandra Nardi, Srinath R. Naidu, Aliaksandr Antonau
  • Publication number: 20080052646
    Abstract: A method for performing leakage analysis includes receiving information specifying an integrated circuit. A neighborhood of shapes associated with the integrated circuit is then determined. Leakage information associated with the integrated circuit is generated based on the neighborhood of shapes. The neighborhood of shapes may be determined by determining a first set of spacings to a boundary of a first cell from an internal shape. A second set of spacings may be determined from the boundary of the first cell to a shape of a second cell. A lithography process may be characterized using the first and second set of spacings.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2007
    Publication date: February 28, 2008
    Applicant: Magma Design Automation, Inc.
    Inventors: Emre Tuncer, Hui Zheng, Vivek Raghavan, Anirudh Devgan, Amir Ajami, Alessandra Nardi, Tao Lin, Pramod Thazhathethil, Alfred Wong
  • Publication number: 20080052653
    Abstract: A method for performing timing analysis includes receiving information specifying an integrated circuit. A neighborhood of shapes associated with the integrated circuit is then determined. Delay information associated with the integrated circuit is generated based on the neighborhood of shapes. The neighborhood of shapes may be determined by determining a first set of spacings to a boundary of a first cell from an internal shape. A second set of spacings may be determined from the boundary of the first cell to a shape of a second cell. A lithography process may be characterized using the first and second set of spacings.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 20, 2007
    Publication date: February 28, 2008
    Applicant: Magma Design Automation, Inc.
    Inventors: Emre Tuncer, Hui Zheng, Vivek Raghavan, Anirudh Devgan, Amir Ajami, Alessandra Nardi, Tao Lin, Pramod Thazhathethil, Alfred Wong