Methods and devices for reducing clock skew in bidirectional clock trees
Granted: November 13, 2018
Patent Number:
10128850
The present disclosure provides systems and methods for improving operation of integrated circuit device including a logic region, which includes a plurality of logic gates that operate based at least in part on a clock signal to facilitate providing a target function, and a clock tree, which includes a clock switch block that receives a source clock signal from a clock source and a branch communicatively coupled between the clock switch block and the logic region, in which the branch…
Selectable reconfiguration for dynamically reconfigurable IP cores
Granted: November 13, 2018
Patent Number:
10127341
Systems and methods for reconfiguration of a hardened intellectual property (IP) block in an integrated circuit (IC) device are provided. Reconfiguration of the hardened IP block in the IC device may transition between functions supported by the hardened IP block. A transition may occur as a pre-configured profile is selected to reconfigure the hardened IP block. Further, configuration data associated with each of the pre-configured profiles of the hardened IP block may be generated and…
Hybrid programmable many-core device with on-chip interconnect
Granted: November 13, 2018
Patent Number:
10127190
The present invention provides a hybrid programmable logic device which includes a programmable field programmable gate array logic fabric and a many-core distributed processing subsystem. The device integrates both a fabric of programmable logic elements and processors in the same device, i.e., the same chip. The programmable logic elements may be sized and arranged such that place and route tools can address the processors and logic elements as a homogenous routing fabric. The…
Specialized processing blocks with fixed-point and floating-point structures
Granted: November 13, 2018
Patent Number:
10127013
Integrated circuits with specialized processing blocks that can support both fixed-point and floating-point operations are provided. A specialized processing block of this type may include partial product generators, compression circuits, and a main adder. The main adder may include a high adder, a middle adder, a low adder, floating-point rounding circuitry, and associated selection circuitry. The middle adder may include prefix networks for outputting generate and propagate vectors,…
Integrated circuit with overdriven and underdriven pass gates
Granted: November 6, 2018
Patent Number:
10121534
In one embodiment, an integrated circuit includes a pass gate circuit and a memory element circuit. The pass gate circuit receives a user signal that toggles between a high voltage level and a low voltage level. The memory element circuit outputs a control signal to control the pass gate circuit. The control signal may be asserted to be greater than the high voltage level when activating the pass gate circuit or the control signal may be deasserted to be less than the low voltage level…
Global variable optimization for integrated circuit applications
Granted: November 6, 2018
Patent Number:
10120969
Systems and methods for generating and deploying integrated circuit (IC) applications are provided. Global variable implementation logic may be used to optimize implementation, on an integrated circuit, of functionality represented by high-level code including global variables. A compiler's intermediate representation is analyzed for one or more characteristics that may be used to determine one or more initialization parameters, one or more scope parameters, one or more implementation…
Systems and methods for authenticating firmware stored on an integrated circuit
Granted: October 30, 2018
Patent Number:
10114941
The invention discloses a method of authenticating data stored in an integrated circuit. The method includes storing randomized data in the integrated circuit such that the randomized data occupies each address space of the memory circuit that is not occupied by the stored data. The method also includes generating a first digital signature using the integrated circuit in response to authenticating a concatenation of the stored data and the first copy of randomized data. The method…
Methods and apparatus for monitoring aging effects on an integrated circuit
Granted: October 30, 2018
Patent Number:
10114068
An integrated circuit capable of monitoring aging effects on an integrated circuit device is disclosed. The integrated circuit includes a control circuit that obtains a clock signal at different frequencies. A sense circuit may receive the clock signal. First and second control signals may be asserted on the integrated circuit with the control circuit. The first control signal may activate a stress mode, and the second control signal may activate a measurement mode. During stress mode,…
Methods for specifying processor architectures for programmable integrated circuits
Granted: October 23, 2018
Patent Number:
10110233
A programmable integrated circuit may include soft and hard logic for implementing a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor. Processor generator tools implemented on specialized computing equipment may be used to specify desired parameters for the processor architecture, including the data word size of one or more data paths, the instruction word size, and a set of instruction formats. The processor generator tools may also be used to determine the appropriate amount of…
Apparatus and methods for calibrating analog circuitry in an integrated circuit
Granted: October 23, 2018
Patent Number:
10110328
The present disclosure provides apparatus and methods for the calibration of analog circuitry on an integrated circuit. One embodiment relates to a method of calibrating analog circuitry within an integrated circuit. A microcontroller that is embedded in the integrated circuit is booted up. A reset control signal is sent to reset an analog circuit in the integrated circuit, and a response signal for the analog circuit is monitored by the microcontroller. Based on the response signal, a…
Integrated circuit with an increased signal bandwidth input/output (I/O) circuit
Granted: October 23, 2018
Patent Number:
10110225
An input/output (I/O) circuit for an integrated circuit includes an input-output terminal, a termination circuit and an impedance compensation circuit. The termination circuit includes a node that is coupled to the input-output terminal. The termination circuit exhibits substantially constant first impedance below a first frequency of signals received at the input-output terminal. Furthermore, the termination circuit exhibits second impedance that is less than the first impedance when…
Packaged integrated circuit including a switch-mode regulator and method of forming the same
Granted: October 16, 2018
Patent Number:
10103627
A packaged integrated circuit and method of forming the same. The package integrated circuit includes an integrated circuit formed on a semiconductor die affixed to a surface of a multi-layer substrate, and a switch-mode regulator formed on the semiconductor die (or another semiconductor die) affixed to the surface of the multi-layer substrate. The integrated circuit and the switch-mode regulator are integrated within a package to form the packaged integrated circuit.
Method and apparatus for relocating design modules while preserving timing closure
Granted: October 16, 2018
Patent Number:
10102326
A method for designing a system on a target device includes generating a solution for the system. A solution for a module of the system identified by a user is preserved. The preserved solution for the module is implemented at a location on the target device identified by the user.
Method and apparatus for performing a single pass compilation for systems with dynamically reconfigurable logic blocks
Granted: October 16, 2018
Patent Number:
10102172
A method for designing a system on a target device includes generating a timing netlist that reflects timing delays and timing relationships of a base configuration of a block in the system and a target configuration of the block in the system, wherein the base configuration of the block and the target configuration of the block implement different functionalities, and performing synthesis, placement, and routing on the system in response to the timing netlist.
Digital signal processing blocks with embedded arithmetic circuits
Granted: October 16, 2018
Patent Number:
10101966
A specialized processing block on an integrated circuit includes a first and second arithmetic operator stage, an output coupled to another specialized processing block, and configurable interconnect circuitry which may be configured to route signals throughout the specialized processing block, including in and out of the first and second arithmetic operator stages. The configurable interconnect circuitry may further include multiplexer circuitry to route selected signals. The output of…
Apparatus for source-synchronous information transfer and associated methods
Granted: October 9, 2018
Patent Number:
10096349
An apparatus includes an interface circuit coupled to an electronic device. The interface circuit provides source synchronous communication with the electronic device using a strobe signal. The interface circuit is configured to gate the strobe signal in order to successfully communicate with the electronic device.
Techniques for protecting security features of integrated circuits
Granted: October 9, 2018
Patent Number:
10095889
An integrated circuit includes a control circuit, a one-time programmable circuit, and a security feature. The control circuit determines if the one-time programmable circuit is programmed in response to a request by a user of the integrated circuit to access the security feature. The control circuit generates a signal to indicate to the user of the integrated circuit that the security feature has been previously accessed if the control circuit determines that the one-time programmable…
Accelerator architecture on a programmable platform
Granted: October 9, 2018
Patent Number:
10095647
An accelerated processor structure on a programmable integrated circuit device includes a processor and a plurality of configurable digital signal processors (DSPs). Each configurable DSP includes a circuit block, which in turn includes a plurality of multipliers. The accelerated processor structure further includes a first bus to transfer data from the processor to the configurable DSPs, and a second bus to transfer data from the configurable DSPs to the processor.
Methods for initializing memory devices
Granted: October 9, 2018
Patent Number:
10095435
In one embodiment, a method of operating memory circuitry that is coupled to processing circuitry and memory controller circuitry may include a step to initialize a first portion of the memory circuitry with the memory controller circuitry. The method may also include a step to store startup sequence information onto the first portion of the memory circuitry while the memory controller circuitry initializes a second portion of the memory circuitry with the processing circuitry. The…
Mixed redundancy scheme for inter-die interconnects in a multichip package
Granted: September 25, 2018
Patent Number:
10082541
Integrated circuit packages with multiple integrated circuit dies are provided. A multichip package may include a master die that is coupled to one or more slave dies via inter-die package interconnects. A mixed (i.e., active and passive) interconnect redundancy scheme may be implemented to help repair potentially faulty interconnects to improve assembly yield. Interconnects that carry normal user signals may be repaired using an active redundancy scheme by selectively switching into use…
