Power estimation of a circuit design

A system for estimating power consumption of a circuit from a circuit design to be analyzed, comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• a storage arrangement coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the storage arrangement has stored therein processor-executable instructions and a representation of the circuit design to be analyzed, wherein the instructions when executed by the at least one processor cause the at least one processor to perform steps including:
• simulating a plurality of one or more sample circuit designs, wherein each sample circuit design includes circuit elements of one or more structural templates, and the simulating outputs toggle rates for the circuits elements of the sample circuit designs;
• determining for each structural template, from the output toggle rates, an equation for at least one of the one or more circuit elements of the structural template;
• establishing a database of the structural templates, each structural template having the equation as associated information descriptive of a toggle rate of the one or more circuit elements of the structural template;
• matching the circuit elements of the circuit design to be analyzed to the structural templates in the database;
• determining respective estimated toggle rates for the circuit elements of the circuit design to be analyzed based on the information descriptive of one or more toggle rates associated with the matched structural templates in the database;
• determining an estimated power consumption level of the circuit design to be analyzed as a function of the estimated toggle rates of the circuit elements;
• and
• outputting data indicative of the estimated power consumption level.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a non-transitory processor-readable storage medium configured with processor-executable instructions for estimating power consumption of a circuit from a circuit design to be analyzed, wherein the instructions when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform steps including:
• simulating a plurality of one or more sample circuit designs, wherein each sample circuit design includes circuit elements of one or more structural templates, and the simulating outputs toggle rates for the circuits elements of the sample circuit designs;
• determining for each structural template, from the output toggle rates, an equation for at least one of the one or more circuit elements of the structural template;
• establish a database of the structural templates, each structural template having the equation as associated information descriptive of a toggle rate of the one or more circuit elements of the structural template;
• inputting a representation of the circuit design to be analyzed, the representation specifying a plurality of circuit elements for implementing the circuit design to be analyzed;
• matching the circuit elements of the circuit design to be analyzed to structural templates in the database;
• determining respective estimated toggle rates for the circuit elements of the circuit design to be analyzed based on the information descriptive of one or more toggle rates associated with the matched structural templates in the database;
• determining an estimated power consumption level of the circuit design to be analyzed as a function of the estimated toggle rates of the circuit elements;
• and
• outputting data indicative of the estimated power consumption level.