Method and apparatus for selecting and aligning cells using a placement tool
First Claim
1. A computerized method for selecting cells in a circuit design database, the circuit design database having one or more levels of hierarchy including one or more logic functions composed of one or more other logic functions and/or one or more leaf cells, the leaf cells forming the lowest level of hierarchy in the circuit design database, each of the leaf cells having one or more inputs and one or more outputs, the circuit design database having one or more nets, each of the nets for connecting an output port of a source leaf cell to an input port of one or more destination leaf cells, the computerized method comprising the steps of:
- selecting one of the nets via a user input device;
identifying selected leaf cells that are connected to the selected net, wherein the selected leaf cells identified by the identifying step include only the source leaf cell that is connected to the selected net; and
selecting the identified leaf cells.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for efficiently identifying, selecting and aligning cells within a circuit design are disclosed. Preferably, a net or group-of nets is first identified by the circuit designer. Then, selected cells that are connected to the selected net or group of nets are identified by the placement tool. A qualification or filter may be provided for filtering which cells are selected. For example, the filter may allow only those cells that are source cells, destination cells, placed cells, unplaced cells, etc., or any combination thereof to be selected. The selected cells may be aligned in a direction of an alignment axis, if desired.
163 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A computerized method for selecting cells in a circuit design database, the circuit design database having one or more levels of hierarchy including one or more logic functions composed of one or more other logic functions and/or one or more leaf cells, the leaf cells forming the lowest level of hierarchy in the circuit design database, each of the leaf cells having one or more inputs and one or more outputs, the circuit design database having one or more nets, each of the nets for connecting an output port of a source leaf cell to an input port of one or more destination leaf cells, the computerized method comprising the steps of:
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selecting one of the nets via a user input device;
identifying selected leaf cells that are connected to the selected net, wherein the selected leaf cells identified by the identifying step include only the source leaf cell that is connected to the selected net; and
selecting the identified leaf cells. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computerized method for selecting cells in a circuit design database, the circuit design database having one or more levels of hierarchy including one or more logic functions composed of one or more other logic functions and/or one or more leaf cells, the leaf cells forming the lowest level of hierarchy in the circuit design database, each of the leaf cells having one or more inputs and one or more outputs, the circuit design database having one or more nets, each of the nets for connecting an output port of a source leaf cell to an input port of one or more destination leaf cells, the computerized method comprising the steps of:
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selecting one of the nets via a user input device;
identifying selected leaf cells that are connected to the selected net;
selecting the identified leaf cells; and
setting a current context. - View Dependent Claims (12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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13. A method according to clam 11, wherein the selected leaf cells identified by the identifying step include only the source leaf cell that is connected to the selected net and is in the current context.
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19. A computerized method for selecting cells in a circuit design database, the circuit design database having one or more levels of hierarchy including one or more logic functions composed of one or more other logic functions and/or one or more leaf cells, the leaf cells forming the lowest level of hierarchy in the circuit design database, each of the leaf cells having one or more inputs and one or more outputs, the circuit design database having one or more nets, each of the nets for connecting an output port of a source leaf cell to an input port of one or more destination leaf cells, the computerized method comprising the steps of:
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selecting two or more of the nets via a user input device, wherein the two or more nets are part of a vectored net;
identifying selected leaf cells that are connected to any of the selected nets; and
selecting the identified leaf cells. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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21. A computerized method for selecting and aligning cells in a circuit design database using a placement tool, the circuit design database having one or more levels of hierarchy including one or more logic functions composed of one or more other logic functions and/or one or more leaf cells, the leaf cells forming the lowest level of hierarchy in the circuit design database, each of the leaf cells having one or more inputs and one or more outputs, the circuit design database having one or more nets, each of the nets for connecting an output port of a source leaf cell to an input port of one or more destination leaf cells, the computerized method comprising the steps of:
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selecting one or more of the nets via a user input device;
identifying and selecting selected leaf cells that are connected to the selected one or more nets, wherein the selected leaf cells identified by the identifying step include only the source leaf cell(s) that are connected to the one or more selected nets;
identifying an alignment axis; and
aligning selected ones of the identified leaf cells in the direction of the alignment axis. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A computerized method for selecting and aligning cells in a circuit design database using a placement tool, the circuit design database having one or more levels of hierarchy including one or more logic functions composed of one or more other logic functions and/or one or more leaf cells, the leaf cells forming the lowest level of hierarchy in the circuit design database, each of the leaf cells having one or more inputs and one or more outputs, the circuit design database having one or more nets, each of the nets for connecting an output port of a source leaf cell to an input port of one or more destination leaf cells, the computerized method comprising the steps of:
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selecting one or more of the nets via a user input device, wherein the one or more nets are part of a vectored net having ordered bits;
identifying and selecting selected leaf cells that are connected to the selected one or more nets;
identifying an alignment axis; and
aligning selected ones of the identified leaf cells in the direction of the alignment axis, wherein the aligning step Ruts the selected identified leaf cells into a predetermined order alone the alignment axis. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30)
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31. A data processing system for selecting cells in a circuit design database, the circuit design database having one or more levels of hierarchy including one or more logic functions composed of one or more other logic functions and/or one or more leaf cells, the leaf cells forming the lowest level of hierarchy in the circuit design database, each of the leaf cells having one or more inputs and one or more outputs, the circuit design database having one or more nets, each of the nets for connecting an output port of a source leaf cell to an input port of one or more destination leaf cells, the data processing system comprising:
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net selection means for selecting one or more of the nets of the circuit design database;
leaf cell identifying means for identifying selected leaf cells that are connected to the selected net(s), wherein the selected leaf cells identified by the identifying means include only the source leaf cell(s) that is/are connected to the selected net(s); and
leaf cell selecting means for selecting the identified leaf cells. - View Dependent Claims (32)
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33. A computerized method for selecting cells in a circuit design database, the circuit design database having one or more levels of hierarchy including one or more logic functions composed of one or more other logic functions and/or one or more leaf cells, the leaf cells forming the lowest level of hierarchy in the circuit design database, each of the leaf cells having one or more inputs and one or more outputs, the circuit design database having one or more nets, each of the nets for connecting an output port of a source leaf cell to an input port of one or more destination leaf cells, the computerized method comprising the steps of:
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selecting one of the nets via a user input device;
identifying selected leaf cells that are connected to the selected net, wherein the selected leaf cells identified by the identifying step only include one or more of the destination leaf cell(s) that is/are connected to the selected net; and
selecting the identified leaf cells.
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34. A computerized method for selecting and aligning cells in a circuit design database using a placement tool, the circuit design database having one or more levels of hierarchy including one or more logic functions composed of one or more other logic functions and/or one or more leaf cells, the leaf cells forming the lowest level of hierarchy in the circuit design database, each of the leaf cells having one or more inputs and one or more outputs, the circuit design database having one or more nets, each of the nets for connecting an output port of a source leaf cell to an input port of one or more destination leaf cells, the computerized method comprising the steps of:
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selecting one or more of the nets via a user input device;
identifying and selecting selected leaf cells that are connected to the selected one or more nets, wherein the selected leaf cells identified by the identifying step only include one or more of the destination leaf cell(s) that is/are connected to the one or more selected net;
identifying an alignment axis; and
aligning selected ones of the identified leaf cells in the direction of the alignment axis.
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35. A data processing system for selecting cells in a circuit design database, the circuit design database having one or more levels of hierarchy including one or more logic functions composed of one or more other logic functions and/or one or more leaf cells, the leaf cells forming the lowest level of hierarchy in the circuit design database, each of the leaf cells having one or more inputs and one or more outputs, the circuit design database having one or more nets, each of the nets for connecting an output port of a source leaf cell to an input port of one or more destination leaf cells, the data processing system comprising:
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net selection means for selecting one or more of the nets of the circuit design database;
leaf cell identifying means for identifying selected leaf cells that are connected to the selected net(s), wherein the selected leaf cells identified by the identifying means only include one or more of the destination leaf cell(s) that is/are connected to the one or more selected net(s); and
leaf cell selecting means for selecting the identified leaf cells.
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Specification