Clock gating for synchronous circuits
AssigneeAzuro (UK) Limited
InventorsStephen Paul Wilcox, Paul Alexander Cunningham
Life of this patent
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Abstract
There is disclosed a clock gating structure for a synchronous circuit comprising a plurality of clocked state holding elements, the clocked gating structure including at least one full-cycle clock gating cell and at least one half-cycle clock gating cell, and a method for designing and controlling such.
Claims26
A clock gating structure for a synchronous circuit comprising a plurality of clocked state holding elements, with at least one clocked state holding element being a full-cycle clock gating cell and at least one further clocked state holding element being a half-cycle clock gating cell.
A method of forming a gating structure for a synchronous circuit comprising a plurality of clocked state holding elements, said method comprising the step of selecting, for each clocked state holding element or group of clocked state holding elements, a gating cell from a group consisting of a full-cycle clock gating cell and a half-cycle clock gating cell, wherein at least one gating cell in said gating structure is chosen to be a full-cycle clock gating cell and at least one other gating cell in said gating structure is chosen to be a half-cycle clock gating cell.
A computer readable medium for enabling a computer to design a gating structure comprising a computer program code for performing the method for forming a gating structure for a synchronous circuit comprising a plurality of clocked state holding elements, said method comprising selecting either a full-cycle clock gating cell or a half-cycle clock gating cell for each clocked state holding element or group of clocked state holding elements;
- wherein at least one gating cell in said gating structure is chosen in be a full-cycle clock gating cell and at least one other gating cell in said gating structure is chosen to be a half-cycle clock gating cell;
- and wherein the computer program code is executed by the computer.
An apparatus for forming a gating structure for a synchronous circuit comprising a plurality of clocked state holding elements, and means for selecting either a full-cycle clock gating cell or a half-cycle clock gating cell for each clocked state holding element or group of clocked state holding elements;
- wherein at least one gating cell in said gating structure is chosen to be a full-cycle clock gating cell and at least one other gating cell in said gating structure is chosen to be a half-cycle clock gating cell.
A computer system including an apparatus for forming a gating structure for a synchronous circuit, said apparatus comprising a plurality of clocked state holding elements, and means for selecting either a full-cycle clock gating cell or a half-cycle clock gating cell for each clocked state holding element or group of clocked state holding elements.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.