Patents by Inventor Patrick D. Gibson

Patrick D. Gibson 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).

  • Publication number: 20100223583
    Abstract: A method of calculating electrical interactions of circuit elements in an integrated circuit layout without flattening the entire database that describes the layout. In one embodiment, a hierarchical database is analyzed and resistance and capacitance calculations made for a repeating pattern of elements are re-used at each instance of the repeated pattern and adjusted for local conditions. In another embodiment, a circuit layout is converted into a number of tiles, wherein the resistance and capacitance calculations made for the circuit elements in the center and a boundary region of the tiles are computed separately and combined. Environmental information that affects electrical interaction between circuit elements in different levels of hierarchy is calculated at a lower level of hierarchy so that such calculations do not need to be made for each placement of a repeated cell and so that not all interacting elements need to be promoted to the same hierarchy level to compute the electrical interactions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 10, 2010
    Publication date: September 2, 2010
    Inventors: Thomas H. Kauth, Patrick D. Gibson, Kurt C. Hertz, Laurence W. Grodd
  • Publication number: 20100185995
    Abstract: Techniques for efficiently determining whether an interconnect line has an impedance component value below a maximum specified value. A specified maximum impedance component value is used to limit the number of interconnect lines that are analyzed by a parasitic extraction analysis process. An analysis window is created based upon the characteristics of the interconnect lines and the specified maximum impedance component value. The size of the window corresponds to the minimum length of the interconnect line that would have the specified maximum impedance component value. Once the analysis window has been created, the interconnect lines are examined to determine if any of them reaches to (or beyond) the analysis window, whereby interconnect lines that exceed the specified maximum impedance component value can be identified.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 14, 2009
    Publication date: July 22, 2010
    Inventors: Fedor G. Pikus, Ziyang Lu, Patrick D. Gibson
  • Patent number: 7716614
    Abstract: A method of calculating electrical interactions of circuit elements in an integrated circuit layout without flattening the entire database that describes the layout. In one embodiment, a hierarchical database is analyzed and resistance and capacitance calculations made for a repeating pattern of elements are re-used at each instance of the repeated pattern and adjusted for local conditions. In another embodiment, a circuit layout is converted into a number of tiles, wherein the resistance and capacitance calculations made for the circuit elements in the center and a boundary region of the tiles are computed separately and combined. Environmental information that affects electrical interaction between circuit elements in different levels of hierarchy is calculated at a lower level of hierarchy so that such calculations do not need to be made for each placement of a repeated cell and so that not all interacting elements need to be promoted to the same hierarchy level to compute the electrical interactions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 21, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2010
    Inventors: Thomas H. Kauth, Patrick D. Gibson, Kurt C. Hertz, Laurence W. Grodd
  • Publication number: 20090007039
    Abstract: A method of calculating electrical interactions of circuit elements in an integrated circuit layout without flattening the entire database that describes the layout. In one embodiment, a hierarchical database is analyzed and resistance and capacitance calculations made for a repeating pattern of elements are re-used at each instance of the repeated pattern and adjusted for local conditions. In another embodiment, a circuit layout is converted into a number of tiles, wherein the resistance and capacitance calculations made for the circuit elements in the center and a boundary region of the tiles are computed separately and combined. Environmental information that affects electrical interaction between circuit elements in different levels of hierarchy is calculated at a lower level of hierarchy so that such calculations do not need to be made for each placement of a repeated cell and so that not all interacting elements need to be promoted to the same hierarchy level to compute the electrical interactions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 21, 2008
    Publication date: January 1, 2009
    Inventors: Thomas H. Kauth, Patrick D. Gibson, Kurt C. Hertz, Laurence W. Grodd
  • Patent number: 7412675
    Abstract: A method of calculating electrical interactions of circuit elements in an integrated circuit layout without flattening the entire database that describes the layout. In one embodiment, a hierarchical database is analyzed and resistance and capacitance calculations made for a repeating pattern of elements are re-used at each instance of the repeated pattern and adjusted for local conditions. In another embodiment, a circuit layout is converted into a number of tiles, wherein the resistance and capacitance calculations made for the circuit elements in the center and a boundary region of the tiles are computed separately and combined. Environmental information that affects electrical interaction between circuit elements in different levels of hierarchy is calculated at a lower level of hierarchy so that such calculations do not need to be made for each placement of a repeated cell and so that not all interacting elements need to be promoted to the same hierarchy level to compute the electrical interactions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2005
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2008
    Inventors: Thomas H. Kauth, Patrick D. Gibson, Kurt C. Hertz, Laurence W. Grodd
  • Patent number: 6931613
    Abstract: A method of calculating electrical interactions of circuit elements in an integrated circuit layout without flattening the entire database that describes the layout. In one embodiment, a hierarchical database is analyzed and resistance and capacitance calculations made for a repeating pattern of elements are re-used at each instance of the repeated pattern and adjusted for local conditions. In another embodiment, a circuit layout is converted into a number of tiles, wherein the resistance and capacitance calculations made for the circuit elements in the center and a boundary region of the tiles are computed separately and combined. Environmental information that affects electrical interaction between circuit elements in different levels of hierarchy is calculated at a lower level of hierarchy so that such calculations do not need to be made for each placement of a repeated cell and so that not all interacting elements need to be promoted to the same hierarchy level to compute the electrical interactions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2005
    Inventors: Thomas H. Kauth, Patrick D. Gibson, Kurt C. Hertz, Laurence W. Grodd
  • Publication number: 20030237063
    Abstract: A method of calculating electrical interactions of circuit elements in an integrated circuit layout without flattening the entire database that describes the layout. In one embodiment, a hierarchical database is analyzed and resistance and capacitance calculations made for a repeating pattern of elements are re-used at each instance of the repeated pattern and adjusted for local conditions. In another embodiment, a circuit layout is converted into a number of tiles, wherein the resistance and capacitance calculations made for the circuit elements in the center and a boundary region of the tiles are computed separately and combined. Environmental information that affects electrical interaction between circuit elements in different levels of hierarchy is calculated at a lower level of hierarchy so that such calculations do not need to be made for each placement of a repeated cell and so that not all interacting elements need to be promoted to the same hierarchy level to compute the electrical interactions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 24, 2002
    Publication date: December 25, 2003
    Applicant: Mentor Graphics Corporation
    Inventors: Thomas H. Kauth, Patrick D. Gibson, Kurt C. Hertz, Laurence W. Grodd