Methods and systems for cross-probing in integrated circuit design
First Claim
1. A method of cross-probing between multiple graphical representations of objects in an integrated circuit design, comprising:
- (a) receiving source code for the integrated circuit design;
(b) generating instances of objects representative of the source code, wherein the objects include references to the associated source code;
(c) generating one or more graphical representations of the source code using the instances of objects; and
(d) linking a graphical representation of a particular object to another graphical representation of the particular object, using the reference to the corresponding source code within the particular object as a linking reference.
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Accused Products
Abstract
When designing integrated circuits, RTL source code is received and converted into objects. Objects may include a reference to relevant lines of source RTL code. A graphical user interface (“GUI”) displays the RTL code in an RTL window. The GUI also displays one or more representations of the objects in additional windows. The GUI uses references between the objects and the RTL code to map between the RTL code window and the window(s) of the one or more representations. When a user highlights a portion of one window, the corresponding portions of other windows are automatically highlighted by the GUI. A tool in accordance with the invention optionally operates in conjunction with one or more analysis tools that automatically highlight portions of one or more windows to illustrate potential errors or timing issues. Timing diagrams showing timing delays between various elements of a block may also be displayed.
81 Citations
46 Claims
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1. A method of cross-probing between multiple graphical representations of objects in an integrated circuit design, comprising:
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(a) receiving source code for the integrated circuit design;
(b) generating instances of objects representative of the source code, wherein the objects include references to the associated source code;
(c) generating one or more graphical representations of the source code using the instances of objects; and
(d) linking a graphical representation of a particular object to another graphical representation of the particular object, using the reference to the corresponding source code within the particular object as a linking reference. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method of designing integrated circuits, comprising:
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(a) displaying source code for an integrated circuit design, wherein the source code defines objects having multiple levels of abstraction;
(b) displaying at least one representation of an object; and
(c) linking the source code and the at least one representation such that any action in one effects a related action in the other. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A front-end integrated circuit design tool, comprising:
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(a) a code manager that displays source code for an integrated circuit design;
(b) a hierarchy manager that displays at least one hierarchy of objects; and
(c) a timing manager that displays a timing report of the integrated circuit design, wherein the managers are linked such that any action in one of the managers effects a related action in each of the other managers. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A method of cross-probing between multiple graphical representations of objects in an integrated circuit design, comprising:
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(a) receiving source code for the integrated circuit design;
(b) generating instances of objects representative of the source code, wherein the objects include a naming convention that identifies the associated source code;
(c) generating one or more graphical representations of the source code using the instances of objects; and
(d) linking a graphical representation of a particular object to another graphical representation of the particular object, using the reference to the corresponding source code within the particular object as a linking reference.
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Specification