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:
Apr. 02, 2002
Filed:
Mar. 25, 1999
Francis B. Heile, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Altera Corporation, San Jose, CA (US);
Abstract
A disclosed method and mechanism provides for the use of hardware to perform the computations necessary for fitting an electronic design onto a substrate. This hardware design tool may be used in conjunction with a conventional software design tool which is reserved for performing other electronic design functions such as synthesis. In a disclosed example, the hardware tool performs the steps necessary to partition logic cells into logic blocks for use in a hierarchical electronic design. In this example, the hardware tool is provided as a product term device which temporarily stores information defining a given partitioning problem and then calculates the quality of the partition for every possible partition employing the constraints of the stored partitioning problem.