Register retiming technique
AssigneeAltera Corporation
InventorsBabette van Antwerpen, Michael D. Hutton, Gregg Baeckler, Richard Yuan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electronic automation system performs register retiming on a logic design, which may be a logic design for a programmable logic integrated circuit. Register retiming is a moving or rearranging of registers across combinatorial logic in a design in order to improve a maximum operating frequency or fmax. In one implementation, the system includes machine-readable code, which may be stored on a computer-readable medium such as a disk, executing on a computer. The system balances timing in order to trade off delays between critical and noncritical paths. Register retiming may make changes to a design at a gate level.
Claims6
A method executing in a computer-aided logic design system for designing logic circuitry wherein the method performs register retiming by moving a register in a logic design across one or more delay elements of the logic design, the method comprising:
- providing a logic design file incorporating the logic design in computer readable format;
- finding in the logic design a design condition that disallows register retiming;
- and
- disallowing moving one or more registers when performing register retiming when the design condition is met, wherein the design condition is replaced with a first register where a user has indicated as “don't touch.”
A method executing in a computer-aided logic design system for designing logic circuitry, wherein the method performs register retiming by moving a register in a logic design across one or more delay elements of the logic design, the method comprising:
- providing a logic design file incorporating the logic design in computer readable format;
- finding in the logic design a design condition that disallows register retiming;
- disallowing moving one or more registers when performing register retiming when the design condition is met;
- and
- permitting a user to selectively move one or more registers designated as non-movable.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.