Application of a relational database in integrated circuit design

• US 20080005713A1
• Filed: 06/30/2006
• Published: 01/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Joshi, Aman U., Singh, Gunjeet
• Granted Patent: US 8,516,418 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 716/11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/13 Architectural design, e.g. computer-aided architectural design [CAAD] related to design of buildings, bridges, landscapes, production plants or roads
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/20 Design optimisation, verification or simulation optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/30 Circuit design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/327 Logic synthesis; Behaviour synthesis, e.g. mapping logic, HDL to netlist, high-level language to RTL or netlist
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/392 Floor-planning or layout, e.g. partitioning or placement
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/394 Routing G06F30/396 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/398 Design verification or optimisation, e.g. using design rule check [DRC], layout versus schematics [LVS] or finite element methods [FEM] optical proximity correction [OPC] design processes G03F1/36

Abstract

A relational database may be integrated into an integrated circuit design and analysis environment as the persistent data store for data associated with the design. This design data may include two or more abstractions of the design, such as layout data models and timing data models, in some embodiments. Design data may be partitioned in the database and indexed according to various attributes. The use of a relational database may facilitate cross-probing of design data corresponding to different abstractions of the design. The relational database may be queried to produce design reports and to identify design errors or weaknesses. Reports may be graphical or tabular, and may be displayed, printed, stored, or posted for viewing. Proposed modifications to a design may be investigated by modifying data in the relational database, rather than in the actual design. Design reports may be re-generated and compared with corresponding reports for the un-modified design.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

loading design data representing an integrated circuit design into a relational database, wherein said design data comprises two or more abstractions of said integrated circuit design, and wherein data corresponding to said two or more abstractions is related in said relational database;

querying said relational database to access said design data; and

generating one or more design reports dependent on said accessed design data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said two or more abstractions is represented by one of:

a layout data model, a timing data model, a noise data model, a power data model, a clock data model, and a test data model.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said relational database supports one or more geometric functions for operating on said design data, and wherein said generating one or more design reports comprises operating on said accessed design data using one or more of said one or more geometric functions.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said relational database is configured to allow said querying and said generating to be performed by a plurality of users concurrently.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

modifying said design data;

generating one or more other design reports dependent on said modified design data; and

determining an effect of said modified design data on said integrated circuit design.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said relational database is configured to allow said modifying and said determining to be performed by a plurality of users concurrently and to propagate modifications made by one of said plurality of users to another of said plurality of users.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein said determining an effect comprises comparing said one or more other design reports to said one or more design reports to identify differences between them.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said two or more abstractions of said integrated circuit design are related in said relational database by a plurality of net names.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said generating one or more design reports comprises analyzing said accessed design data, and in response to said analyzing creating one or more of:

a table, a graph, a waveform, a database entry, a stored result, and a document.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said generating one or more design reports comprises analyzing said accessed design data, and in response to said analyzing displaying one or more results of said analyzing on an input/output device.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising computing one or more statistics dependent on said accessed design data and storing said one or more computed statistics in said relational database;

wherein said generating one or more design reports comprises;

querying said relational database to access said one or more computed statistics; and

generating said one or more design reports dependent on said accessed statistics.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said relational database is an Oracle™

database.

13. A computer system, comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to said processor, wherein said memory comprises a relational database;

an input/output device coupled to said processor;

wherein said processor is configured to store integrated circuit design data in said relational database;

wherein said design data comprises two or more abstractions of an integrated circuit design, and wherein data corresponding to said two or more abstractions is related in said relational database;

wherein said processor is further configured to query said relational database to access said design data and to generate one or more design reports dependent on said accessed design data.

14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein at least one of said two or more abstractions is represented by one of:

a layout data model, a timing data model, a noise data model, a power data model, a clock data model, and a test data model.

15. The computer system of claim 13, wherein said relational database supports one or more geometric functions for operating on said integrated circuit design data, and wherein to generate said one or more design reports said processor is further configured to operate on said accessed design data using one or more of said one or more geometric functions.

16. The computer system of claim 13, wherein said processor is further configured to:

modify said design data;

generate one or more other design reports dependent on said modified design data; and

determine an effect of said modified design data on an integrated circuit design represented by said integrated circuit design data.

17. The computer system of claim 16, wherein said processor is configured to allow a plurality of concurrent accesses to said relational database in order to query said database, generate said one or more design reports, modify said design data, generate said one or more other design reports, and determine an effect of said modified design.

18. A computer-readable storage medium, comprising program instructions configured to:

load design data representing an integrated circuit design into a relational database;

query said relational database to access said design data; and

generate one or more design reports dependent on said accessed design data;

wherein said design data comprises two or more abstractions of said integrated circuit design;

wherein at least one of said two or more abstractions is represented by one of;

a layout data model, a timing data model, a noise data model, a power data model, a clock data model, and a test data model; and

wherein data corresponding to said two or more abstractions is related in said relational database.

19. The storage medium of claim 18, wherein said program instructions are further configured to:

modify said design data;

generate one or more other design reports dependent on said modified design data; and

determine an effect of said modified design data on said integrated circuit design;

20. The storage medium of claim 18, wherein said relational database supports one or more geometric functions for operating on said design data, and wherein to generate one or more design reports, said program instructions are further configured to operate on said accessed design data using one or more of said one or more geometric functions.