Universal digital block interconnection and channel routing
AssigneeCypress Semiconductor Corporation
InventorsWarren Snyder, Bert Sullam, Haneef Mohammed
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A programmable routing scheme provides improved connectivity both between Universal Digital Blocks (UDBs) and between the UDBs and other micro-controller elements, peripherals and external Inputs and Outputs (I/Os) in the same Integrated Circuit (IC). The routing scheme increases the number of functions, flexibility, and the overall routing efficiency for programmable architectures. The UDBs can be grouped in pairs and share associated horizontal routing channels. Bidirectional horizontal and vertical segmentation elements extend routing both horizontally and vertically between different UDB pairs and to the other peripherals and I/O.
Claims20
An apparatus, comprising:
- an array of digital blocks;
- and
- a programmable interconnect matrix including horizontal channels that programmably couple different groups of one or more digital blocks together and segmentation elements that programmably interconnect different horizontal channels together.
An integrated circuit, comprising:
- a micro-controller system;
- a programmable interconnect including horizontal channels and vertical channels;
- and
- a memory device accessible by the micro-controller to control how functional elements in the integrated circuit connect to the horizontal channels and control how the horizontal channels and vertical channels connect to each other.
A method, comprising:
- providing an interconnect matrix;
- programming the interconnect matrix to connect different functional elements to associated local routing channels;
- programming the interconnect matrix to interconnect different local routing channels together;
- and
- programming the interconnect matrix to further connect different local routing channels to each other through general routing channels.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.