Circuit design tools with optimization assistance
First Claim
1. A method for providing assistance to a circuit designer, comprising:
- with computing equipment, receiving design data and constraint data for a circuit design and producing a corresponding output on a given implementation of the circuit design in an integrated circuit;
with the computing equipment, processing the output and the constraint data to identify a potential problem with resource consumption by the given implementation of the circuit design in the integrated circuit; and
with the computing equipment, recommending a plurality of potential solutions to the potential problem, wherein each of the potential solutions is individually selectable by the circuit designer, and wherein the potential solutions are selected from the group consisting of;
use register packing, modify synthesis options, use time domain multiplexing, and use a larger integrated circuit.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Computer aided design tools are provided that assist circuit designers in optimizing circuit performance. A circuit designer who is designing an integrated circuit may supply circuit design data and constraint data. Computer aided design tools may process the data to produce output data. The output data may include information on an implementation of the circuit design in a given type of integrated circuit device and may include report data on how the implementation of the circuit design is expected to perform. An optimization assistance tool analyzes the design and constraint data and the report data to identify potential problem areas. Recommendations may be provided to the circuit designer on how to address potential problems. Selectable options are displayed for the circuit designer. By selecting an appropriate option, the circuit designer can automatically launch a tool to make recommended settings adjustments.
18 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A method for providing assistance to a circuit designer, comprising:
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with computing equipment, receiving design data and constraint data for a circuit design and producing a corresponding output on a given implementation of the circuit design in an integrated circuit; with the computing equipment, processing the output and the constraint data to identify a potential problem with resource consumption by the given implementation of the circuit design in the integrated circuit; and with the computing equipment, recommending a plurality of potential solutions to the potential problem, wherein each of the potential solutions is individually selectable by the circuit designer, and wherein the potential solutions are selected from the group consisting of;
use register packing, modify synthesis options, use time domain multiplexing, and use a larger integrated circuit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for providing assistance to a circuit designer, comprising:
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with computing equipment, receiving design data and constraint data for a circuit design and producing a corresponding output on a given implementation of the circuit design in an integrated circuit; with the computing equipment, processing the output and the constraint data to identify a potential problem with the given implementation of the circuit design; with the computing equipment, recommending a plurality of potential solutions to the potential problem, wherein each of the potential solutions is individually selectable by the circuit designer; with the computing equipment, processing the output and the constraint data to identify multiple potential problems with the given implementation of the circuit design in the integrated circuit, wherein the multiple potential problems are selected from the group consisting of;
logic element usage, memory block usage, digital signal processor block usage, input/output usage, and routing resource usage. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for providing assistance to a circuit designer, comprising:
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with computing equipment, receiving design data and constraint data for a circuit design and producing a corresponding output on a given implementation of the circuit design in an integrated circuit; with the computing equipment, processing the output and the constraint data to identify a potential problem with the given implementation of the circuit design; with the computing equipment, recommending a plurality of potential solutions to the potential problem, wherein each of the potential solutions is individually selectable by the circuit designer, wherein the potential solutions are displayed on a screen in an order that takes into account how important the recommended changes are and how difficult it is to make the recommended changes; and when the circuit designer selects a given one of the potential solutions, automatically launching a computer-aided design tool to be used by the logic designer in implementing the selected potential solution. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
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13. A method for providing assistance to a circuit designer, comprising:
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with computing equipment, receiving design data and constraint data for a circuit design and producing a corresponding output on a given implementation of the circuit design in an integrated circuit; and with the computing equipment, processing the output and the constraint data to identify a potential problem with resource consumption by the given implementation of the circuit design in the integrated circuit, wherein the potential problem comprises a potential problem selected from the group consisting of;
logic element usage, memory block usage, digital signal processor block usage, input/output usage, and routing resource usage.
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Specification