Device and method for ensuring that a signal always reaches its destination after a fixed number of clock cycles

A method of propagating a transmission signal from a source node to a destination node in a semiconductor integrated circuit device in which variation in a minimum propagation time of said transmission signal from said source node to said destination node is sufficiently large, relative to a clock period at an intended clock frequency of the device, to cause variation in a clock cycle in which the transmission signal reaches the destination node, the method comprising:

• (a) arranging a plurality of clocked elements in series between the source and destination nodes;
• and
• (b) causing a shift signal, representing said transmission signal present at said source node in a first clock cycle, to be shifted from said source node to said destination node through said series of clocked elements one clocked element per predetermined number of clock cycles;
• wherein in step (a) the clocked elements are arranged such that variation in a propagation time of said shift signal from each clocked element to the next clocked element is sufficiently small, relative to said clock period, that a clock cycle in which the shift signal acts as a reset signal and reaches the next clocked element does not vary,
• whereby said shift signal always reaches said destination node a fixed number of clock cycles after said first clock cycle.

A method of propagating a transmission signal from a source node to a destination node in a semiconductor integrated circuit device in which variation in a minimum propagation time of the transmission signal from the source node to the destination node is sufficiently large, relative to a clock period at an intended clock frequency of the device, to cause variation in a clock cycle in which the transmission signal reaches the destination node, said method comprising:

• arranging a plurality of clocked elements in series between the source and destination nodes;
• establishing, for a preselected reset operation, the minimum propagation time of the transmission signal from the source node to the destination node;
• and
• causing a shift signal, representing the transmission signal present at the source node in a first clock cycle, to be shifted from the source node to the destination node through the series of clocked elements one clocked element per predetermined number of clock cycles, with the shift signal always reaching the destination node a fixed number of clock cycles after the first clock cycle, where the clocked elements are arranged by said arranging so that variation in a propagation time of the shift signal from each clocked element to the next clocked element is sufficiently small, relative to the clock period, that a clock cycle in which the shift signal acts as a reset signal and reaches the next clocked element does not vary.