Operational cycle assignment in a configurable IC

• US 7,428,721 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2005
• Issued: 09/23/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Altera Corporation (Intel Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Tabula Incorporated
• Inventors: Teig, Steven, Rohe, Andre
• Primary Examiner(s): Chiang, Jack
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sandoval, Patrick
• Application Number:
  US11/081,854
• Publication Number:
  US 20070245288A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,288 Days
• Field of Search: 716/1, 716/16, 716/17, 716/6, 716/18
• US Class Current: 716/138
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/34 for reconfigurable circuits, e.g. field programmable gate arrays [FPGA] or programmable logic devices [PLD]
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 19/17752 for hot reconfiguration
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 19/17756 for partial configuration or partial reconfiguration
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 19/17758 for speeding up configuration or reconfiguration

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a method of designing a configurable integrated circuit (“IC”) with several configurable circuits. The method receives a design having several sets of operations for the configurable circuits to perform in different operational cycles. For at least a first set of operations that has a start operation and an end operation, the method assigns a particular operation in the first set to a first operational cycle based at least partially on the position of the particular operation with respect to the start and end operations.

Claims

1. A method of designing an integrated circuit (“

IC”

) with a plurality of configurable circuits, the method comprising;

a) receiving a design comprising a plurality of sets of operations for the configurable circuits to perform in different operational cycles; and

b) for at least a first set of operations that has a start operation and an end operation, assigning an operation in the first set to a first operational cycle based at least partially on a metric value, the metric value based on a distance between the assigned operation and the start operation and a distance between the assigned operation and the end operation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each operation in the first set of operations has a duration, wherein the distances are expressed in terms of the duration of the operations in the first set of operations.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the metric value is a normalized distance metric value that expresses, in a normalized scale, distances between the assigned operation and the start and end operations.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

for each of a plurality of sets of operations that each have a start operation and an end operation, assigning an operation in a set to different operational cycles based at least partially on a metric value, the metric value based on a distance between the assigned operation and the start operation in the set of operations and a distance between the assigned operation and the end operation in the set of operations.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the IC is a sub-cycle reconfigurable IC, and the operational cycles are sub-cycles related to a clock cycle.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the clock cycle is a clock cycle related to the design.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning the operation to the first operational cycle comprises defining a first configuration data set as the configuration data set for a configurable circuit in the first operational cycle.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the assigned operation is a first operation, the method further comprising assigning a second operation in a second set of operations to a second operational cycle based at least partially on a metric value, the metric value based on a distance between the second operation and the start operation of the second set of operations and a distance between the second operation and the end operation of the second set of operations.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein assigning the second operation to the second operational cycle comprises defining a second configuration data set as the configuration data set for a configurable circuit in the second operational cycle.

10. A computer readable medium storing a computer program which when executed by at least one processor designs an integrated circuit (“

IC”

) with a plurality of configurable circuits, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for;

a) receiving a design comprising a plurality of sets of operations for the configurable circuits to perform in different operational cycles; and

b) for at least a first set of operations that has a start operation and an end operation, assigning an operation in the first set to a first operational cycle based at least partially on a metric value, the metric value based on a distance between the assigned operation and the start operation and a distance between the assigned operation and the end operation.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein each operation in the first set of operations has a duration, wherein the distances are expressed in terms of the duration of the operations in the first set of operations.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the metric value is a normalized distance metric value that expresses, in a normalized scale, distances between the assigned operation and the start and end operations.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the IC is a sub-cycle reconfigurable IC, and the operational cycles are sub-cycles related to a clock cycle.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the set of instructions for assigning the operation to the first operational cycle comprises a set of instructions for defining a first configuration data set as the configuration data set for a configurable circuit in the first operational cycle.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the assigned operation is a first operation, the computer program further comprising:

a set of instructions for assigning a second operation in a second set of operations to a second operational cycle based at least partially on a metric value, the metric value based on a distance between the second operation and the start operation of the second set of operations and a distance between the second operation and the end operation of the second set of operations.

wherein the set of instructions for assigning the second operation to the second operational cycle comprises a set of instructions for defining a second configuration data set as the configuration data set for the configurable circuit in the second operational cycle.