US 6,480,997 B1 · Automatic placement and routing device and method of automatic placement and routing

Abstract

An automatic placement and routing device comprises a standard-net connection regulator for regulating the connecting relations between standard nets and cells into a net list, a cell placement means for arranging the placement of cells on the basis of the connecting relations of the standard nets, and a variable-net connection regulator for regulating the connecting relations between variable nets and cells whose placement has already been completed by the cell placement means. Since, by this configuration, the connecting relations of the standard nets are regulated before the placement of cells, and the connecting relations of the variable nets are regulated after the placement of cells on the basis of the result of the placement, such effects as that the particular wiring is made short, and that the complexity of wiring is made small and so on can be obtained.

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Drawings

Claims6

Dependent claims

An automatic placement and routing device for forming an integrated circuit by arranging the placement of a plurality of cells and wiring these cells by use of a plurality of nets, wherein the nets are grouped into two types;

namely variable nets whose connecting relations with the cells do not need to be regulated in advance and standard nets other than the variable nets, said automatic placement and routing device comprising:
a standard-net connection regulating means for regulating the connecting relations between the standard nets and the cells into a net list,
a cell placement means for arranging the placement of cells on the basis of the connecting relations of the standard nets,
a variable-net connection regulating means for regulating into a net list the connecting relations between the variable nets and the cells whose placement has already been completed,
a global routing means for executing a global routing with respect to the cells after the completion of the placement thereof, in accordance with the connecting relations of the standard nets, and
a detail routing means for executing a detail routing with respect to the cells already located, on the basis of the global routing conducted in accordance with the connecting relations of the standard nets,
wherein said variable-net connection regulating means regulates the connecting relations between the variable nets and the cells on the basis of the result of the detail routing.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Description8,654 words

Summary1,777 words

#1. Field of the Invention

#The present invention relates to an automatic placement and routing device for automatically arranging the positions of a plurality of cells and wiring those cells by use of a plurality of nets so as to form a semiconductor integrated circuit (hereinafter may be referred to as a semiconductor IC circuit or Just as a semiconductor IC), and also relates to a method of automatic placement and routing in relation to this device.

#2. Description of the Related Art

Brief description of the drawings29 figures

#FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an automatid placement and routing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

#FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a method of automatic placement and routing according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

#FIG. 3 is a layout showing the state immediately after the step ST12 of FIG. 2.

Detailed description6,345 words

#Several embodiments of the present invention are now explained below.

#FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an automatic placement and routing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, numeral 1 denotes a standard-net connection regulator for regulating the connecting relations between standard nets and cells into a net list, numeral 2 denotes a cell placement means for arranging the placement of cells on the basis of the connecting relations of the standard nets, numeral 3 denotes a variable-net connection regulator for regulating the connecting relations between variable nets and cells into a net list, numeral 4 denotes a global routing means for carrying out a global routing operation with respect to the thus located cells in accordance with the connecting relations of the standard nets and those of the variable nets, and numeral 5 denotes a detail routing means for carrying out a detail routing with respect to the already located cells on the basis of the result of the global routing conducted in accordance with the connecting relations of the standard nets and those of variable nets.

#The operation of the automatic placement and routing device according to this embodiment is now explained as below.

Facts

Application

09/670,573Filed 27 Sep 2000

Priority

JP 2000-1024824 Apr 2000

Granted

12 Nov 2002

Term ended

27 Jan 2021

Estimated · how

20 years from earliest known nonprovisional domestic filing plus recorded patent term adjustment, including 122 days of adjustment. Maintenance-fee lapses, terminal disclaimers and statutory extensions have not been checked. The continuity chain may be incomplete; this is not an enforceability determination.

Classification2 codes

G06F 30/39
Circuit design: circuit design at the physical level
G06F
Computing and data processing

Automatic placement and routing device and method of automatic placement and routing

Life of this patent

Automatic placement and routing device and method of automatic placement and routing

Life of this patent

Life of this patent

Abstract

Drawings

Drawings

Claims6

Description8,654 words

Drawings

Classification2 codes

Life of this patent

Description8,654 words