Automatic Connectivity Extraction for Electronic Design Traversal

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional connectivity verification tools in electronic design face challenges due to increasing complexity, providing either overly simple or overly complex connectivity specifications with limited user control and customization options, leading to inadequate extraction of connectivity information.

Innovation Solution

A method and system for automatic extraction of connectivity information in electronic designs, which traverses and categorizes circuit components, constructs a connectivity data structure incrementally, and allows customization based on user-defined criteria, enabling fine-grained control over the traversal process and detailed information extraction.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of information

If conventional automatic extraction approaches traverse the entire design description to extract connectivity information, then the extraction is comprehensive, but the resulting specification becomes overly complex and difficult for users to comprehend

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveconnectivity information completenessVSAvoidspecification complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the connectivity specification by allowing users to define specific source signals, destination signals, and traversal depth limits. This divides the comprehensive extraction into manageable portions, extracting only the connectivity information relevant to user-defined criteria rather than traversing the entire design description, thus reducing specification complexity while maintaining necessary completeness.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies local quality by enabling different extraction depths and detail levels for different regions of the design description. Users can specify that certain areas require detailed extraction while others need only summary information, allowing the specification to have varying levels of detail appropriate to each local context rather than uniform complexity throughout.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

2Ease of operation

If conventional approaches provide simple connectivity specifications with only source and destination signals, then the specification is easy to comprehend, but it does not provide useful information about conditions and latencies

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvespecification comprehensibilityVSAvoidconnectivity information usefulness

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

The patent makes the specification dynamic by allowing users to control the level of detail extracted based on their needs. The extraction can adapt between simple source-destination pairs and detailed specifications including conditions and latencies, depending on user-defined parameters such as traversal depth and signal selection criteria, providing both comprehensibility and usefulness as needed.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The patent changes parameters of the extraction process itself, allowing users to adjust traversal depth, signal selection criteria, and detail levels. By modifying these extraction parameters rather than the design description, the system can produce specifications with appropriate levels of information density, balancing comprehensibility against information completeness.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

3Ease of manufacture

If conventional approaches do not allow user control over traversal stopping points, then the extraction process is simple to implement, but users cannot obtain partial connectivity for specific segments of interest

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveextraction process simplicityVSAvoidextraction flexibility

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of manufactureVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by requiring users to define extraction criteria and stopping points before the traversal begins. This preliminary configuration enables the extraction process to target specific segments of interest while maintaining a relatively simple automated traversal mechanism, achieving both partial connectivity extraction and process simplicity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements partial action by allowing users to limit the traversal to specific regions, depth levels, or signal types of interest. Rather than performing complete extraction, the system can stop traversal at user-defined points, providing partial connectivity information for specific segments while keeping the extraction process simple and targeted.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Data Source

PatentUS9734278B1Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture for automatic extraction of connectivity information for implementation of electronic designs

Publication Date: 2017.08.15 CADENCE DESIGN SYST INC

AI summary

Disclosed are techniques for implementing electronic designs with automatic connectivity information extraction. These techniques traverse at least a portion of an electronic design, classify or categorize circuit component designs encountered during traversal into multiple categories, extract connectivity information for the at least the portion of the electronic design based in part or in whole upon one or more criteria, and devising the at least the portion of the electronic design with at least the connectivity information. A connectivity data structure may be constructed with the extracted connectivity information. A plurality of circuit component designs categorized into the same category may be grouped into a single element in the connectivity data structure.