Method and apparatus for automatically arranging circuit elements in

Abstract

An automatic layout of a data-path circuit, whose performance and area are optimized, requires to input a data-path circuit, produce an external terminal directive branch having a start point placed on an input terminal group of the data-path circuit and an end point placed on an output terminal group of the same, and produce in-circuit directive branches corresponding to respective connecting lines between two circuit elements in the data-path circuit, each in-circuit directive branch having a start point placed on one circuit element supplying a signal to a related connecting line and an end point placed on the other circuit element receiving the signal from the same connecting line. Subsequently, a group circuit is produced based on the relationship between the in-circuit directive branches and the circuit elements, the group circuit comprising a plurality of circuit elements performing a series of logic processing per 1-bit signal. A layout evaluation is then produced so as to comprise an evaluation satisfying a requirement that a direction of the external terminal directive branch is met with directions of the in-circuit directive branches. Thereafter, the layout of circuit elements is optimized based on the layout evaluation and the resultant layout is outputted.