The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 28, 1999
Filed:
Jun. 20, 1996
Chakra R Srivatsa, San Jose, CA (US);
James A Bauman, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
An IC includes a plurality of functional blocks each having a discrete block-level architecture. The functional blocks are connected to one another via metal interconnect lines defined by an interconnect architecture. One or more of the functional blocks includes a spare (i.e., unused) repeater amplifier. Where a repeater amplifier inserted in a particular long line of the interconnect structure would decrease the signal propagation delay through the long line, the interconnect architecture is modified so that the long line is routed through the spare repeater amplifier. Such modification decreases the signal propagation delay of the long line without requiring a modification of the block-level architecture.