JPH11204651A - Floor planning apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent re-sizing to a cluster shape which cannot be actually realized by correcting with a second correcting means size of two sides sandwiching the vertical angle of a cluster to attain an area equal to that of the cluster after the correction by a first correcting means. SOLUTION: The height and the width of each cell included in the cluster to be re-sized from the data stored in an external memory device 4 are recognized. Area of each cell is calculated from the height and the width of the recognized cell and area of cluster being set prior of re-sized is calculated by adding the wiring area to the calculated area. The calculated cluster area is compared with the cluster area before designation. When the cluster area after the re-sizing is smaller than the original area, the short side of cluster after the re-sizing is made long to attain equal area. When the cluster area is larger than the original area, the long side of cluster after the re-sizing is made long to attain equal area.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an LSI (large sc
ale integrated circuit), which relates to a floor plan device used during development.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a layout design at the time of development of an LSI, there is known a floor plan apparatus for determining a schematic arrangement of each module constituting a chip. The floor plan apparatus often employs an interactive system using graphics.

[0003]

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In the floor plan creation work by the floor plan device, a cluster is created in which a group of cells that are functionally united on the netlist is one set, and this cluster is arranged in the floor plan. In this operation, it is necessary to determine the size and shape of the cluster.

Conventionally, there has been proposed a floor plan apparatus which determines an aspect ratio on a floor plan based on a total area of cells constituting the cluster when determining the shape of the cluster. Conventionally, the cells constituting the cluster often use only standard cells having a constant height, and thus no particular problem occurs with the above-described floor plan apparatus.

[0006] However, in recent years, due to a timing problem, the number of cases where a cell having a height different from that of a standard cell, for example, a mega cell or an analog cell, is adopted in a cluster. In such a case, the above-described conventional floor plan apparatus does not consider the cell size in the cluster, and may resize to a cluster shape that cannot be realized. If the placement and routing work in the next step is performed with such settings, the timing constraint predicted cannot be observed, and it is necessary to start over from the floor plan again.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a floor plan apparatus capable of preventing a cell from being resized into an unrealistic cluster shape by considering a cell size in the cluster when resizing the cluster. As a result, the number of times of redoing the floor plan is reduced to reduce the design cost and the design period.

[0008]

A floor plan apparatus according to the present invention is a floor plan apparatus for determining a schematic arrangement of a rectangular cluster in which a group of cells that are functionally united on a netlist is one set. Display means for displaying the cluster, size specifying means for specifying the vertical and horizontal size of another cluster based on the display by the display means, and a height and width of each cell included in the cluster. 2
Detecting means for detecting the second largest value (hereinafter referred to as the minimum size), calculating means for calculating the area of the cluster before designation by the size specifying means, and two sides sandwiching a vertex angle of the cluster designated by the size specifying means Correction means for correcting the length of the shorter side of the two sides to the minimum size when both lengths are less than the minimum size, and a vertex angle of a cluster designated by the size designation means The area of the cluster when one of the two sides sandwiching is larger than the minimum size, or the area of the cluster after the correction by the first correction unit is the same as the area obtained by the calculation unit. A second correction unit that corrects the length of two sides sandwiching a vertex angle of the cluster.

In the above floor plan device, the second
The correcting means may determine whether the area of the cluster when one of two adjacent sides of the cluster specified by the size specifying means is equal to or larger than the minimum size, or the area of the cluster after the correction by the first correcting means. When the area is smaller than the area calculated by the calculating means, the short side of the cluster is lengthened, and when the area is larger than the area calculated by the calculating means, the long side of the cluster is shortened and the same. It is preferable to correct the area.

[0010] Further, the present invention is a recording medium on which a program for causing a computer to function as a floor plan device for determining an approximate arrangement of clusters on a rectangle in which a group of cells which are functionally united on a netlist as one set is recorded. A display means for displaying the cluster; a size designating means for designating the vertical and horizontal size of the cluster desired by the operator based on the display by the display means; and a height of each cell included in the cluster. Detecting means for detecting the second largest value (hereinafter referred to as the minimum size) from the width and width, calculating means for calculating the area of the cluster before designation by the size designation means, and adjacent to the cluster designated by the size designation means If the length of the two matching sides is less than the minimum size, modify the length of the shorter side of the two sides to the minimum size. The first correction means, the area of the cluster when one of two adjacent sides of the cluster specified by the size specification means is equal to or larger than the minimum size, or the cluster after the correction by the first correction means A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for functioning as a second correcting means for correcting the lengths of two sides adjacent to each other so that the area of the area becomes the same as the area obtained by the calculating means is prepared. By doing so, the computer may function as the floor plan device of the present invention.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A floor plan apparatus according to an embodiment will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of a floor plan device. The processing device 1 includes an arithmetic processing device (hereinafter referred to as a CPU).
), And performs processing for creating a floor plan including resizing processing. The keyboard 2 is used to input commands, numerical values, and the like necessary for creating a floor plan. The mouse 3 is a pointing device used when performing resizing processing of a cluster displayed on the display device 5 such as a CRT. The pointing device is not limited to the mouse 3, but may be a tablet, a trackball, or the like. The external storage device 4 stores data (layout data, cell size, net list, etc.) for creating a floor plan.

The external storage device 4 may be a hard disk built in the device, or a data (layout data) for creating a floor plan from an external recording medium such as a floppy disk reader. , Cell size, netlist, etc.). Further, the program for creating the floor plan may be always stored in the ROM built in the processing device 1, or a separate CD-ROM drive may be provided and the CD-RO may be provided.
It may be configured to read from an external recording medium such as M as needed.

In the resizing process described later, the floor plan apparatus obtains, as unique information, the second largest value of the height and width of each cell included in the cluster to be resized. This value is not determined separately for the height and width of each cell, but takes the second largest value from both. In the resizing process, the second largest value is set as the minimum size (shortest side) when resizing the cluster.

The reason why the minimum size (shortest side) when resizing a cluster is set to the second largest value among the heights and lengths of the cells is as follows. First, consider the cell having the longest side in the cluster. If the short side of the cell is the second longest in the cluster, the cell can always be accommodated in the cluster by setting the short side of the cluster to at least the length of the short side of the cell.

Next, it is assumed that the second longest side in the cluster is the long side of another cell. In this case, in other words, the short side of the cluster having the longest side is shorter than the other cells having the second longest side.
Therefore, even in this case, by setting the short side of the cluster to at least the length of the second longest side of the cells in the cluster, the cell having the longest side can always be accommodated in the cluster. For the above reasons, in the floor plan apparatus according to the embodiment, of the height and width of each cell, 2
The second largest value is the minimum size (shortest side) when resizing the cluster.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a floor plan creation process executed by the processing device 1. FIGS. 3 to 8 sequentially illustrate changes in the shape of the cluster on the screen when the operator of the floor plan apparatus resizes the cluster by operating the mouse 3 based on the screen of the display apparatus 5. FIG. Hereinafter, the cluster resizing process will be described in accordance with the flow illustrated in FIG. 2 with reference to FIGS. 3 to 8 as appropriate.

From the data stored in the external storage device 4, the height and width of each cell included in the cluster to be resized are recognized (step S1). For example, as shown in FIG. 3, nine cells 100 to 1 are included in a cluster to be resized.
When 08 is present, the information on the height and width of each of them is recognized from the data stored in the external storage device 4. The area of each cell is calculated from the recognized height and width of each cell, and the area of the wiring region is added to the sum of the calculated areas to calculate the area of the cluster set before resizing (step S2). . The second largest value is detected from the height and width of each cell recognized in step S1 (step S3). For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the arrangement of the clusters 200 set in the current cell arrangement is shown on the display of the display device 5 (step S4). Note that a plurality of clusters are displayed on the actual display. The mouse 3 is operated by the operator of the floor plan device.
Is operated to wait for the provisional vertex of the resized cluster 200 to be set (NO in step S5).

The setting of the temporary vertices executed in step S5 will be described with reference to FIG. When the operator clicks a part of the side of the cluster 200 to be resized with the mouse 3, handles 201, 202, 203, and 204 are displayed at each vertex of the cluster 200. The operator holds any one of the plurality of handles with the mouse 3 and drags the handle in an arbitrary direction (for example, the direction of an arrow). In this case, a rectangle specified by a held handle (201 in FIG. 5) and a handle diagonally to the handle (203 in FIG. 5) is indicated by a dotted line on the screen. When the operator releases the hold of the handle by the mouse 3 at a desired position, a temporary vertex is set as shown by a solid line in FIG. 6, and the resized cluster 200 is designated.

Returning to the flowchart of FIG. It is determined whether both sides of the formed rectangle are both longer than the second longest side of the cell (step S6). For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the height L1 of the resized cluster 200 is
If the length L1 of the rectangle is shorter than the length l2 of the second longest side of each cell (NO in step S6), the length L1 of the short side of the rectangle is set to the second longest length of the cell as shown in FIG. Side length l2
(Step S7).

The area of the cluster is checked, and step S2 is performed.
Is compared with the area of the cluster calculated in (step S8). When the area of the resized cluster set by the operator is smaller than the original area (Y in step S8)
ES), as shown in FIG. 8A, the short side of the resized cluster is lengthened to have the same area (step S).
9). If the area of the resized cluster set by the operator is larger than the original area (NO in step S8), the long side of the resized cluster is set as shown in FIG. It is shortened to have the same area (step S10). The resized cluster is displayed on the screen of the display device 5 (step S11), and the process ends.

As described above, by setting the minimum size when resizing a cluster to the second longest value in the height and width of each cell, the cluster can be resized to a size that is originally impossible. Can be prevented. As a result, the number of times of redoing the floor plan can be reduced, and the design cost and the design period can be reduced. The above process is not limited to resizing,
It can also be applied when arranging clusters. In this case, the user uses the mouse 3
The above process may be applied when the diagonal vertex is designated after the determination is made by the above operation or the like. Further, although the cluster after resizing is specified using the mouse 3, it may be specified by numerical input using the numeric keypad.

[0022]

According to the floor plan apparatus of the present invention, by considering the size of each cell included in the cluster, the length of the short side of the cluster specified by the size specifying means is corrected, and this is not possible. Enables preventing clusters from being set up. As a result, the number of times of redoing the floor plan can be reduced, and the design cost can be reduced,
The design period can be shortened.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a floor plan device.

FIG. 2 is a processing flowchart executed by a control device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing each cell included in a cluster to be resized.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing classes displayed on the display device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the contents of a resizing process using the mouse 3;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing clusters set by an operation of a mouse by an operator.

FIG. 7 is a diagram when correcting the size of a short side of a cluster after resizing.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing processing for making the area of a cluster after resizing the same as the area of an original cluster.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 1 control device, 2 keyboard, 3 mouse, 4 storage device, 5 display device, 100, 101, 102, 10
3,104,105,106,107,108 cells,
200 clusters, 201, 202, 203, 204 handles

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A floor plan apparatus for determining an approximate arrangement of a rectangular cluster in which a group of cells that are functionally united on a netlist as one set, comprising: display means for displaying the cluster; Size designating means for designating the vertical and horizontal size of the cluster desired by the operator based on the display by the means, and the second largest value (hereinafter referred to as the minimum size) from the height and width of each cell included in the cluster Detecting means for detecting the size of the cluster before the designation by the size designation means; and determining that the length of two adjacent sides of the cluster designated by the size designation means is less than the minimum size. First correcting means for correcting the length of the short side of the two sides to the minimum size, and two adjacent sides of the cluster specified by the size specifying means. The area of one of the clusters when one of them is equal to or larger than the minimum size, or the area of the cluster after the correction by the first correction unit is set to be equal to the area obtained by the calculation unit. A floor plan apparatus comprising: a second correction unit configured to correct a length of a side. 2. The floor plan apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said second correction means is configured to determine whether one of two adjacent sides of the cluster specified by the size specification means is equal to or larger than the minimum size. If the area of the cluster in or the area of the cluster after the correction by the first correction means is smaller than the area obtained by the calculation means,
A floor plan apparatus wherein the length of the short side of the cluster is lengthened, and when the length is larger than the calculated area, the length is shortened and corrected to the same area. 3. A recording medium on which a program for causing a computer to function as a floor plan device for determining a schematic arrangement of clusters on a rectangle in which a group of cells that are functionally united on a netlist as one set is recorded. A display means for displaying the cluster; a size specification means for specifying the vertical and horizontal size of the cluster desired by the operator based on the display by the display means; and a height of each cell included in the cluster. Detecting means for detecting the second largest value (hereinafter referred to as the minimum size) from the width and width, calculating means for calculating the area of the cluster before designation by the size designation means, and adjacent to the cluster designated by the size designation means If the length of the two matching sides is less than the minimum size, correct the length of the short side of the two sides to the minimum size The area of the cluster when one of two adjacent sides of the cluster specified by the size specifying means is equal to or larger than the minimum size, or the cluster after the correction by the first correcting means. A computer-readable recording medium storing a program for causing the computer to function as a second correction unit that corrects the lengths of two sides adjacent to each other so that the area of the image is the same as the area obtained by the calculation unit.