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:
Jan. 24, 2006
Filed:
May. 13, 1999
John G Mcbride, Ft Collins, CO (US);
John G McBride, Ft Collins, CO (US);
Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P., Houston, TX (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for evaluating an integrated circuit design to determine whether elements in the integrated circuit are feedback elements. The apparatus comprises a computer capable of being configured to execute a rules checker program which analyzes information relating to the integrated circuit to determine whether or not an element being evaluated is a feedback element. The rules checker program preferably performs a first routine that determines whether an element being evaluated is a feedback element in a special type of circuit. If the first routine determines that it has not detected the special type of circuit, or special case, the rules checker program begins executing a second routine. If the first routine determines that it has detected a special case, the routine ends. The second routine performs several checks to determine whether or not an element being evaluated is a feedback element. The first and second routines are designed to ensure that the order of the checks maximize efficiency in the manner in which the rules checking task is performed, although the invention is not limited to the particular order.