JPH0574935A - Programmable logic circuit device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide bus lines in three directions with an enhanced degree of freedom in connection between cells, by forming cells into a regular hexagon or a square and arranging cells in a cross-stitch configuration. CONSTITUTION:Cells 11 of a hexagonal shape are arranged close to each other. The inside of the cell 11 comprises a wiring region 22 and a logic block 21, which is made up of a combination circuit 23 and flip-flop circuits 24 and 25. Besides wiring resources provided in the wiring region 22, bus lines 12, 13, and 14 are provided in each cell-array arrangement direction. These bus lines 12, 13 and 14 are mainly used for transferring a long-distance signal. Since the cell has a hexagonal shape, which includes arrangement directions in three ways, the cells can be extended in three directions.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a programmable logic circuit device of a cell array type, that is, a large number of cells each having a logic block including a logic circuit programmable in logic configuration and a wiring programmable in connection.
The present invention relates to a programmable logic circuit device in which cells that are arranged in a dimension and that are adjacent to each other can be connected to each other through the wiring.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing a configuration of a conventional cell array type programmable logic circuit device. Chip 1
A large number of square cells 2 are arranged in a two-dimensional matrix form in the central part without gaps, and an input / output block 3 including an input / output circuit is arranged in the peripheral part.

[0003]

By the way, each cell is
It is possible to connect to an adjacent cell by using the wiring inside the cell. Here, “adjacent” means being adjacent to each other via a side having a certain length. Therefore, each cell is adjacent to four cells, one cell on each side of the square, as a whole. In other words, the cells adjacent to each other in the diagonal direction, which are in contact with each other at the points (corners), do not have the adjacency relationship described here and cannot be directly connected to each other. As described above, in the conventional programmable logic circuit device, each cell can be interconnected only with four cells among the surrounding cells, and the degree of freedom of connection is limited.

[0004]

The programmable logic circuit device of the present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and the shape of the cell is a regular hexagon. Further, the cells are formed in a square shape and arranged in a zigzag pattern.

[0005]

When the cells have a regular hexagonal shape, the cells can be arranged two-dimensionally with no space therebetween, and at the same time, each cell can be adjacent to six cells. Further, when the cells are arranged in a square shape and are arranged in a zigzag manner, they can be arranged without a gap, and each cell can be adjacent to six cells.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an array state of cells of a programmable logic circuit device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The cells 11 are all regular hexagons and are arranged with no space therebetween. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing the internal structure of the cell 11. The inside of the cell 11 is composed of a logic block 21 and a wiring area 22, and the logic block 21 is composed of a combination circuit 23 and flip-flops 24 and 25. The circuit configuration in the logic block 21 is programmable and is determined based on the configuration data stored in the configuration memory (not shown) scattered on the chip as appropriate. The wiring area 22 is provided with wiring resources for connecting the logic block 21 to the logic blocks in the adjacent cells. What kind of connection is made between adjacent cells is programmable and, like the logic block 21, is determined based on the configuration data stored in the configuration memory.

Since the cells 11 are regular hexagons in this way, each cell can be adjacent to the six surrounding cells via sides (boundary lines) each having a certain length.

As wirings, in addition to the wiring resources in the wiring area 22, through wiring groups (bus lines) 12, 13, 1
4 are provided along the cell array direction. These bus lines 12, 13, and 14 are mainly used for signals that must propagate a long distance, but since the cell 11 is a regular hexagon,
The cells 11 can be arrayed in three directions and can be extended in three directions. That is, in the conventional device, the number of square cells is two.
Since the bus lines are arranged in a two-dimensional matrix, there are only two vertical and horizontal directions, but in this embodiment, the number of bus lines can be increased by one direction.

Here, the direction of the bus line is changed from 2 to 3
The advantages of the direction will be described. General calculation c = f
Considering (a, b), the calculation of f is performed on the input signals of a and b, and the result is extracted as the output signal of c. If a bus line is used as the signal propagation means at this time, in the conventional device, for example, the input signal a is propagated in the horizontal bus line and the input signal b is propagated in the vertical bus line, and the output signal c is propagated in the vertical direction. It will propagate either in the lateral direction. That is, two types of signals are propagated in one of the two directions. Since the number of bus lines is limited, the processing of signals is greatly limited. On the other hand, according to the present embodiment, the input signal a can be propagated to the bus line 12, the input signal b can be propagated to the bus line 13, and the output signal c can be propagated to the bus line 14, respectively. Becomes loose.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the shape of the cells 31 is a quadrangle as in the case of the conventional device, but the way of arrangement is different. That is,
The cells 31 are arranged in a zigzag pattern, that is, they are arranged every other row with a shift of half a cell. With this arrangement, each cell 31 can be adjacent to six cells, as in the first embodiment shown in FIG. Further, the bus lines can be extended in three directions as indicated by reference numerals 32, 33 and 34.

[0011]

As described above, according to the programmable logic circuit device of the present invention, each cell can be adjacent to six cells, so that the conventional device can only be adjacent to four cells. Compared with, the degree of freedom of connection between cells is higher and the usability is greatly improved. Further, the direction of the bus line can be changed from the conventional two directions to three directions, which also increases the degree of freedom in design.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing the shape and arrangement of cells of a programmable logic circuit device which is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing the internal configuration of the cell.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing the shape and arrangement of cells of a programmable logic circuit device which is another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing a configuration of a conventional programmable logic circuit device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11, 31 ... Cell 12, 13, 14, 32, 33, 34 ... Bus line 21 ... Logical block 22 ... Wiring area

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A large number of cells, each of which has a logic block including a programmable logic circuit with respect to a logical configuration and a wiring with a programmable connection, are two-dimensionally arranged, and adjacent cells are connected to each other via the wiring. A programmable logic circuit device that can be implemented, wherein the shape of the cell is a regular hexagon. 2. A large number of cells each having a logic block including a logic circuit having a programmable logic configuration and a wiring having a programmable connection are arranged two-dimensionally, and the cells adjacent to each other are connected to each other via the wiring. A programmable logic circuit device that can be implemented, characterized in that the cells have a rectangular shape and the cells are arranged in a staggered pattern.