US 7,073,149 B2Granted

System for representing the logical and physical information of an integrated circuit

AssigneeXilinx, Inc.

InventorsDavid A. Knol, Salil Ravindra Raje

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Abstract

A floor planner tool for integrated circuit design which provides tools and displays for a designer to create a floor plan to define desired placement of circuits defined in a logical netlist by creating a physical hierarchy comprised of nested physical blocks (pblocks). Each pblock is a data structure which contains data which defines which circuits from the logical netlist are assigned to it. Each pblock stands alone and can be input to a place and route tool without the rest of the physical hierarchy. Each pblock data structure contains pointers to the circuits on the netlist assigned to that pblock, identifies other pblocks nested within it and contains a list of pins for the instances within the pblock. Net data structures in the physical hierarchy define which nets are connected to which pins.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A method of operating a computer to provide a floor planning tool to an integrated circuit designer, comprising the steps:

A) storing the data structures of a logical netlist;
B) displaying on one portion of a computer display a representation of the instances defined by said logical netlist;
C) providing one or more tools a user can invoke to create and locate physical blocks (pblocks) on a floorplan of an integrated circuit being designed, said floor plan comprising one or more pblocks which may be nested to establish a physical hierarchy, and responding to invocation of one or more of said tools by creating one or more said pblock(s), each pblock represented by a data object having a predetermined structure, said floorplan being displayed on the same computer display as said representation of said instances defined by said logical netlist;
D) providing one or more tools a user can invoke to assign instances from said displayed representation of instances defined by said logical netlist into pblocks in said displayed hierarchy of pblocks, wherein any of the instances are assignable by a user to any of the pblocks without regard to the hierarchical structure of the logical netlist;
E) responding to such assignment operations by changing the data in said data objects representing said pblocks to reflect which instances are assigned to each pblock;
and
F) further responding to such assignment operations by determining the original connectivity between instances defined in said logical netlist and automatically changing data in predetermined data objects of said physical hierarchy so as to recreate said original connectivity by creating new nets and new pins as necessary which recreate said original connectivity.

4 more elements

An apparatus comprising:

a computer display;
a keyboard and pointing device;
a computer coupled to said display, keyboard and pointing device, and programmed to perform the following functions:
A) store data structures of a logical netlist;
B) display on one portion of said computer display a representation of instances defined by said logical netlist;
C) provide one or more tools displayed on said computer display a user can invoke to create and locate on a floorplan of an integrated circuit being designed, said floor plan comprising one or more physical blocks (pblocks);
D) respond to invocation of one or more of said tools by creating one or more said pblock(s), creation of said pblock accomplished by creating data objects representing said pblocks, said floorplan being displayed on said computer display, and wherein each pblock can contain other pblocks so as to establish a physical hierarchy;
E) provide one or more tools a user can invoke to assign instances from said displayed representation of instances defined by said logical netlist into pblocks in said displayed hierarchy of pblocks, by allowing a user to perform such assignment operations by allowing the user to use said pointing device to select any instance from said logical netlist and drag said instance into a displayed representation of any pblock in said physical hierarchy regardless of the logical hierarchy established by said logical netlist;
F) respond to such assignment operations by changing the data in said data objects representing said pblocks to reflect which instances are assigned to each pblock;
and
G) further respond to such assignment operations by determining the original connectivity between instances defined in said logical netlist and automatically changing data in predetermined data objects of said physical hierarchy so as to recreate said original connectivity by creating new nets and new pins as necessary which recreate said original connectivity.

8 more elements

A computer readable medium having computer executable instructions thereon for controlling a computer to perform the following steps:

A) storing the data structures of a logical netlist;
B) displaying on one portion of a computer display a representation of the instances defined by said logical netlist;
C) providing one or more tools a user can invoke to create and locate on a floorplan of an integrated circuit being designed and comprising one or more physical blocks (pblocks) and responding to the use of said tools to create one or more said pblock(s) by creating data objects representing said pblocks, said floorplan being displayed on the same computer display as said representation of said instances defined by said logical netlist, and wherein pblocks can contain other pblocks so as to establish a physical hierarchy;
D) providing one or more tools a user can invoke to assign instances from said displayed representation of instances defined by said logical netlist into pblocks in said displayed hierarchy of pblocks, wherein the user can assign any of the instances to any of the pblocks without regard to the hierarchical structure of the logical netlist;
E) responding to such assignment operations by changing the data in said data objects representing said pblocks to reflect which instances are assigned to each pblock;
and
F) further responding to such assignment operations by determining the original connectivity between instances defined in said logical netlist and automatically changing data in predetermined data objects of said physical hierarchy so as to recreate said original connectivity by creating new nets and new pins as necessary which recreate said original connectivity.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.