Shell Circuit Design for Partial Reconfiguration
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing process of implementing custom circuit designs within integrated circuits (ICs) is time-consuming and requires significant computational resources, and it poses security risks by exposing detailed platform design information.
Innovation Solution
A method that generates a shell circuit design by selectively removing portions of the platform design, allowing for faster and more resource-efficient implementation of custom circuit designs while maintaining security by hiding sensitive design information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If the complete platform design is provided for custom circuit design implementation, then design accuracy and completeness are improved, but processing time and computational resources increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential elements needed for custom circuit design implementation by generating a shell representation that removes unnecessary platform design details. This extraction process keeps the critical interconnect structure and timing information while eliminating redundant data, thereby maintaining design accuracy while significantly reducing processing time and computational resource requirements.
2Manufacturing precision
If the complete platform design is provided for custom circuit design implementation, then design completeness is improved, but security risks increase due to exposure of sensitive design information
Solution Approach 1:
The shell representation technique extracts and retains only the essential structural and timing information needed for custom circuit design, while deliberately omitting sensitive platform design details. This selective extraction maintains design completeness for implementation purposes while inherently protecting intellectual property by not exposing the full platform design information.
Solution Approach 2:
The shell representation acts as an intermediary between the complete platform design and the custom circuit design process. It provides the necessary interface information and structural context for implementing custom circuits while serving as a protective layer that prevents direct access to sensitive platform design information, thereby reducing security risks.
3Manufacturing precision
If comprehensive platform design information is used, then routing accuracy is improved, but computational resource requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The shell representation extracts and retains only the critical interconnect structure and routing topology information from the complete platform design. By removing unnecessary detailed information while preserving the essential routing framework, it maintains routing accuracy for custom circuit implementation while significantly reducing the computational resources required for synthesis, placement, and routing processes.
Data Source
AI summary
A platform design including a module black-box instance is loaded into computer hardware. Using the computer hardware, synchronous boundary crossings between a static region and the module black-box instance of the platform design are identified and objects of the platform design included in the synchronous boundary crossings are marked. Using the computer hardware, unmarked objects are removed from the platform design to generate a shell circuit design. A custom circuit design is implemented based on the shell circuit design and timing constraints corresponding to objects remaining in the shell circuit design.