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:
Jul. 27, 2010
Filed:
Oct. 24, 2007
Mohammed Ouali, Ottawa, CA;
Jason Abt, Kanata, CA;
Edward Keyes, Ottawa, CA;
Vyacheslav Zavadsky, Ottawa, CA;
Mohammed Ouali, Ottawa, CA;
Jason Abt, Kanata, CA;
Edward Keyes, Ottawa, CA;
Vyacheslav Zavadsky, Ottawa, CA;
Semiconductor Insights Inc., Ontario, CA;
Abstract
A method and apparatus to reduce occurrences of electrically non-functional elements, known as dummy features, from a source data structure is described. The source data structure may be image data, a vector based data structure or some other data format. Dummy features in the source data structure are detected and then deleted. Dummy features may be detected by selecting a representative dummy feature, using it as a reference pattern or polygon and comparing it to features in the source data structure. The step of comparing the selected reference to the comprises selecting a cut-off correlation threshold value, and computing the correlation coefficients between the reference and the feature. Features are selectively removed based on a comparison between their correlation coefficients and the selected cut-off correlation threshold value. This threshold value may require updating to remove all dummy features in the source data structure. When different shaped dummy features in the same data structure are encountered, a further reference feature may be selected and the process repeated.