Pipelined Interconnect Circuitry with Configurable Storage
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
As technology nodes advance, the reduction in interconnect and cell delays slows down, making it challenging for existing routing architectures to support high-speed connections across integrated circuits, particularly due to the increased distance between synchronous elements, which hinders the effectiveness of register pipelining techniques.
Innovation Solution
The integration of pipeline elements into interconnect circuitry with configurable pipeline storage elements that provide access via address and data lines, utilizing inverters, transmission gates, and control circuits to manage signal routing and storage, enabling efficient read and write operations across the circuit.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If register pipelining is implemented to increase clock frequencies and throughput, then performance is improved, but the complexity of locating performance bottlenecks, inserting and removing registers, and compiling the modified integrated circuit design increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces pipeline storage elements as intermediary components within the interconnect circuitry itself. These storage elements act as mediators that break down long interconnect paths into smaller segments, allowing signals to be staged and transferred between segments. This eliminates the need for complex manual register insertion by providing built-in pipelining capability directly in the routing fabric, thereby improving clock frequency and throughput while reducing design modification complexity.
2Area of stationary object
If synchronous elements are placed far from each other to increase functionality per unit area, then area efficiency is improved, but the existing routing architecture cannot support high-speed connections across the integrated circuit
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the interconnect circuitry into multiple smaller segments by inserting pipeline storage elements at strategic points along the routing paths. This segmentation allows long-distance connections to be broken down into a series of shorter, manageable stages. Each stage can operate independently at high speed, enabling synchronous elements to be placed far apart across the integrated circuit while maintaining high-speed communication through the staged pipeline architecture.
Data Source
AI summary
An integrated circuit may have pipelined programmable interconnects that are configured to select between a routing signal stored in storage nodes of a pipeline element and the identical routing signal bypassing the pipeline element. A programming element may access the storage nodes of the pipeline elements for write operations and, if desired, for read operations. For example, the programming element may perform write operations to initialize the storage nodes to a known state during power-up operations or to reset the pipeline element. In addition, the programming element may perform reed operations for debug and testing purposes.