User interface to implement topology integrity throughout routing implementations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10521097-B1
Application number	US-201715721648-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Sep 29, 2017
Priority date	Sep 29, 2017
Publication date	Dec 31, 2019
Grant date	Dec 31, 2019

Abstract

Described herein is an improved approach to implement routing for electrical designs. A structural routing solution is provided, where a routing system is implemented to generate a complete routing tree. A user interface is provided that captures users' design intent about topology of an electrical design, and the routing system adheres to that user's design intent about the topology throughout a layout process for the electrical design.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method implemented with a processor to generate a user interface for implementing an electronic design, the method comprising:
implementing a first portion of a user interface having controls to configure constraints for a topology of an electronic design, wherein
a reference topology is determined for the electronic design that conforms to the constraints, the reference topology having a trunk structure and one or more pins connected with the trunk structure through one or more twig structures;

implementing a second portion of the user interface to display the reference topology, wherein
the second portion of the user interface changes a displayed version of the reference topology as the controls in the first portion of the user interface is modified to change the constraints; and

generating or updating a physical implementation of the electronic design at least by resolving a congesting issue in the electronic design to comply with one or more design rules, resolving the congesting issue comprising modifying a tree structure that represents a plurality of nets in the electronic design.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the controls in the first portion of the user interface comprises control elements to control one or more of trunk orientation, maximum trunk length, minimum trunk length, trunk orientation, maximum twig length, or maximum number of pins per trunk.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the controls in the first portion of the user interface includes a first set of control elements to configure a first set of trunk constraints corresponding to a first level of trunks and a second set of control elements to configure a second set of trunk constraints corresponding to a second level of trunks.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tree structure comprises a first set of nodes for a first level of trunks, a second set of nodes for a second level of trunks, and a third set of nodes for pins in the electronic design.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating or updating the physical implementation is performed for the electronic design at least by generating a forest of trees for the plurality of nets in the electronic design, adjusting the tree structure to resolve a plurality of congestion issues; performing realization of the physical implementation for the electronic design, and reviewing results for the physical implementation to determine compliance with a plurality of design rules.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user interface further comprises a display having a reference display portion and a physical implementation display portion, the reference display portion displays a first image of the reference topology, and the physical implementation display portion displays a second image of the physical implementation of the electronic design.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the reference display portion and the physical implementation display portion are simultaneously displayed in the user interface.

8. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to execute a set of acts to generate a user interface for implementing an electronic design, the set of acts comprising:
implementing a first portion of a user interface having controls to configure constraints for a topology of an electronic design, wherein
a reference topology is determined for the electronic design that conform to the constraints, the reference topology having a trunk structure and one or more pins connected with the trunk structure through one or more twig structures;

implementing a second portion of the user interface to display the reference topology, wherein
the second portion of the user interface changes a displayed version of the reference topology as the controls in the first portion of the user interface is modified to change the constraints; and

generating or updating a physical implementation of the electronic design at least by resolving a congesting issue in the electronic design to comply with one or more design rules, resolving the congesting issue comprising modifying a tree structure that represents a plurality of nets in the electronic design.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the controls in the first portion of the user interface comprises control elements to control one or more of trunk orientation, maximum trunk length, minimum trunk length, trunk orientation, maximum twig length, or maximum number of pins per trunk.

10. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the controls in the first portion of the user interface includes a first set of control elements to configure a first set of trunk constraints corresponding to a first level of trunks and a second set of control elements to configure a second set of trunk constraints corresponding to a second level of trunks.

11. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the tree structure comprises a first set of nodes for a first level of trunks, a second set of nodes for a second level of trunks, and a third set of nodes for pins in the electronic design.

12. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein generating or updating the physical implementation is performed for the electronic design at least by generating a forest of trees for the plurality of nets in the electronic design, adjusting the tree structure to resolve a plurality of congestion issues; performing realization of the physical implementation for the electronic design, and reviewing results for the physical implementation to determine compliance with a plurality of design rules.

13. The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the user interface further comprises a display having a reference display portion and a physical implementation display portion, the reference display portion displays a first image of the reference topology, and the physical implementation display portion displays a second image of a physical implementation of the electronic design.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 , wherein the reference display portion and the physical implementation display portion are simultaneously displayed in the user interface.

15. A system to generate a user interface for implementing an electronic design, the system comprising:
a processor; and
a memory for holding programmable code, wherein the programmable code includes instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to
implement a first portion of a user interface having controls to configure constraints for a topology of an electronic design, wherein
a reference topology is determined for the electronic design that conforms to the constraints, the reference topology having a trunk structure and one or more pins connected with the trunk structure through one or more twig structures;

implement a second portion of the user interface to display the reference topology, wherein
the second portion of the user interface changes a displayed version of the reference topology as the controls in the first portion of the user interface is modified to change the constraints; and

generate or update a physical implementation of the electronic design at least by resolving a congesting issue in the electronic design to comply with one or more design rules, resolving the congesting issue comprising modifying a tree structure that represents a plurality of nets in the electronic design.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the controls in the first portion of the user interface comp

Assignees

• Cadence Design Systems Inc

Inventors

• Lam Hoi-Kuen
• Yang Chung-Do
• Wilkosz John Mario

Classifications

• H10D84/01

  Manufacture or treatment · CPC title

• G06F30/398

  Design verification or optimisation, e.g. using design rule check [DRC], layout versus schematics [LVS] or finite element methods [FEM] (optical proximity correction [OPC] design processes G03F1/36) · CPC title

• G06F30/394

  Routing (G06F30/396 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04L47/11

  Identifying congestion · CPC title

• G06F3/04842

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title