Floor-planning technique applied to circuit design in which a circuit is divided automatically into sub-circuits that are equally matched with efficiently arranged physical blocks

• US 6,295,633 B1
• Filed: 09/22/1998
• Issued: 09/25/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Murakawa, Ikuko
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith, Matthew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Speight, Jibreel
• Application Number:
  US09/158,077
• Time in Patent Office: 1,099 Days
• Field of Search: 29/250.1, 430/30, 716/8, 716/2, 716/19, 716/1, 716/7, 716/12
• US Class Current: 716/124
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/392 Floor-planning or layout, e.g. partitioning or placement
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67155 Apparatus for manufacturing or treating in a plurality of work-stations
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 21/67242 Apparatus for monitoring, sorting or marking testing or measuring during manufacture H01L22/00, marks per se H01L23/544; testing individual semiconductor devices G01R31/26

Abstract

The invention provides a floor planning technique by which physical blocks having areas sufficiently matching with actual sub circuits can be produced automatically and also a physical block of a shape other than a rectangle can be produced using a very simple technique. To this end, a floor planning apparatus of the invention includes a circuit unit recognition section for recognizing circuit units which compose each of the sub circuits, a part information storage section for storing, for each of the circuit units, numbers of parts of different part types which compose the circuit unit, a part number calculation section for acquiring, for each of the different part types, the numbers of the parts composing the circuit units recognized by the circuit unit recognition section from the part information storage section and calculating, for each of the different part types, total numbers of the parts in each of the sub circuits, and an area calculation section for calculating and determining an area of the physical block based on the total numbers of the parts calculated for each of the different part types by the part number calculation section. The invention can be applied to designing of a circuit such as an LSI (Large Scale Integration) and a PCB (Printed Circuit Board).

Claims

1. A floor planning apparatus which determines, in order to mount a design object circuit, for each of sub circuits obtained by dividing the design object circuit, a physical block having an area necessary to mount the sub circuit in a mounting region and arranges the physical blocks in the mounting region, comprising:

a circuit unit recognition section recognizing circuit units which compose each of the sub circuits;

a part information storage section storing, for each of the circuit units, numbers of parts of different part types which compose the circuit unit;

a part number calculation section acquiring, for each of the different part types, the numbers of the parts composing the circuit units recognized by said circuit unit recognition section from said part information storage section and calculating, for each of the different part types, total numbers of the parts in each of the sub circuits;

an area calculation section calculating and determining an area of the physical block based on the total numbers of the parts calculated for each of the different part types by said part number calculation section;

a theoretical shape calculation section calculating a theoretical shape of the physical block based on the area of the physical block determined by said area calculation section and a shape production parameter set in advance for the physical block;

a display control section causing a display section to display the physical block having the theoretical shape obtained by said theoretical shape calculation section;

an arrangement section arranging the physical block having the theoretical shape obtained by said theoretical shape calculation section at a designated position in the mounting region; and

a shape modification section deleting, when the physical block arranged by said arrangement section overlaps with another one of the physical blocks arranged already, an overlapping portion from one of the arranged physical block and the already arranged physical block and modifying the shape of the one physical block whose overlapping portion is deleted in such a manner that the one physical block has an area equal to the area determined by said area calculation section and does not overlap with the other one of two physical blocks from which the overlapping portion is not deleted.

2. A floor planning apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a priority order storage section storing a priority order set in advance for the individual physical blocks, and wherein said shape modification section determines one of the physical blocks from which the overlapping portion is to be deleted to modify the shape of the physical block based on the priority order stored in said priority order storage section.

3. A floor planning apparatus as claimed in claim 2, further comprising a mode setting section setting a mode in which modification to the shape of any already arranged physical block by said shape modification section is inhibited.

4. A floor planning apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the theoretical shapes of the physical blocks calculated by said shape modification section are limited to rectangles.

5. A floor planning apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein the theoretical shapes of the physical blocks calculated by said shape modification section are limited to rectangles.

6. A floor planning apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a mode setting section setting a mode in which modification to the shape of any already arranged physical block by said shape modification section is inhibited.

7. A floor planning apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the theoretical shapes of the physical blocks calculated by said shape modification section are limited to rectangles.

8. A floor planning apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the theoretical shapes of the physical blocks calculated by said shape modification section are limited to rectangles.

9. A floor planning apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an area calculation expression storage section storing an area calculation expression to be used for calculation of the areas of the physical blocks, and wherein said area calculation section re-calculates, upon division modification or logical modification of the design object circuit, the areas of the physical blocks using the area calculation expression stored in said area calculation expression storage section.

10. A floor planning apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

an evaluation expression storage section for storing an evaluation expression to be used for evaluation of the areas/shapes of the physical blocks;

an evaluation section for evaluating the areas/shapes of the physical blocks based on the evaluation expression stored in said evaluation expression storage section; and

a display control section for causing said display section to display a result of the evaluation by said evaluation section.

11. A circuit design apparatus, comprising:

an arrangement section arranging a physical block having a calculated theoretical shape at a designated position in a mounting region; and

a shape modification section deleting, when the physical block arranged by said arrangement section overlaps with another one of the physical blocks arranged already, an overlapping portion from one of a newly arranged physical block and the already arranged physical block and modifying the shape of the one physical block whose overlapping portion is deleted in such a manner that the one physical block has an area equal to an area based on total numbers of parts calculated for each of different part types and does not overlap with the other one of two physical blocks from which the overlapping portion is not deleted.

12. A floor planning method for determining, in order to mount a design object circuit, for each of sub circuits obtained by dividing the design object circuit, a physical block having an area necessary to mount the sub circuit in a mounting region and arranging the physical blocks in the mounting region, comprising:

recognizing, for each of the sub circuits, circuit units which compose the sub circuit;

acquiring, for each of the circuit units recognized, numbers of parts of different part types which compose the circuit unit and calculating, for each of the different part types, total numbers of the parts in each of the sub circuits;

calculating and determining an area of the physical block based on the total numbers of the parts calculated for each of the different part types;

calculating a theoretical shape of the physical block based on the area of the physical block and a shape production parameter set in advance for the physical block;

causing a display section to display the physical block having the calculated theoretical shape; and

deleting, when the physical block having the calculated theoretical shape is arranged at a designated position in the mounting region, if the physical block overlaps with another one of the physical blocks arranged already, an overlapping portion from one of a newly arranged physical block and the already arranged physical block and modifying the shape of the one physical block whose overlapping portion is deleted in such a manner that the one physical block has an area equal to a determined area and does not overlap with the other one of two physical blocks from which the overlapping portion is not deleted.

13. A floor planning method as claimed in claim 12, wherein one of the physical blocks from which the overlapping portion is to be deleted to modify the shape of the physical block is determined based on a priority order set in advance for the individual physical blocks.

14. A circuit design method, comprising:

arranging a physical block having a calculated theoretical shape at a designated position in a mounting region; and

deleting, when the physical block arranged by said arrangement section overlaps with another one of the physical blocks arranged already, an overlapping portion from one of a newly arranged physical block and the already arranged physical block and modifying the shape of the one physical block whose overlapping portion is deleted in such a manner that the one physical block has an area equal to an area based on total numbers of parts calculated for each of different part types and does not overlap with the other one of two physical blocks from which the overlapping portion is not deleted.

15. A computer-readable recording medium having a floor planning program recorded thereon for causing, in order to mount a design object circuit, a computer to determine, for each of sub circuits obtained by dividing the design object circuit, a physical block having an area necessary to mount the sub circuit in a mounting region and arrange the physical blocks in the mounting region, said floor planning program causing said computer to operate as:

a circuit unit recognition section recognizing circuit units which compose each of the sub circuits;

a part number calculation section acquiring, for each of the different part types, numbers of parts composing the circuit units recognized by said circuit unit recognition section and calculating, for each of the different part types, total numbers of the parts in each of the sub circuits;

an area calculation section calculating and determining an area of the physical block based on the total numbers of the parts calculated for each of the different part types by said part number calculation section;

a theoretical shape calculation section calculating a theoretical shape of the physical block based on the area of the physical block determined by said area calculation section and a shape production parameter set in advance for the physical block;

a display control section causing a display section to display the physical block having the theoretical shape obtained by said theoretical shape calculation section;

an arrangement section arranging the physical block having the theoretical shape obtained by said theoretical shape calculation section at a designated position in the mounting region; and

a shape modification section deleting, when the physical block arranged by said arrangement section overlaps with another one of the physical blocks arranged already, an overlapping portion from one of a newly arranged physical block and the already arranged physical block and modifying the shape of the one physical block whose overlapping portion is deleted in such a manner that the one physical block has an area equal to the area determined by said area calculation section and does not overlap with the other one of two physical blocks from which the overlapping portion is not deleted.

16. A computer-readable recording medium having a floor planning program recorded thereon as claimed in claim 15, wherein, when said floor planning program causes said computer to function as said shape modifications sections, said floor planning programs causes said computer to determined one of the physical block from which the overlapping portion is to be deleted to modify the shaped of the physical block based on a priority order set in advance for the individual physical blocks.

17. A computer readable storage medium, storing a program containing a circuit design method, the program instructing a computer to perform:

arranging a physical block having a calculated theoretical shape at a designated position in a mounting region; and

deleting, when the physical block arranged by said arrangement section overlaps with another one of the physical blocks arranged already, an overlapping portion from one of a newly arranged physical block and the already arranged physical block and modifying the shape of the one physical block whose overlapping portion is deleted in such a manner that the one physical block has an area equal to an area based on total numbers of parts calculated for each of different part types and does not overlap with the other one of two physical blocks from which the overlapping portion is not deleted.