Interactive simplification of schematic diagram of integrated circuit design

Abstract

The interactive grouping tool offers the flexibility to simplify the schematic diagram of an integrated circuit (IC) design by grouping circuit elements that are not specified to be of interest into entities of any size. Circuit elements of various types and functionalities, including ports and pins, can be combined together into the same entity without modifying the underlying design logic and connectivity. By grouping and hiding the unnecessary details, the tool reduces clutter in a schematic diagram and greatly eases the process of traversing, debugging, and analyzing the schematic diagram. Users can choose to dynamically group the circuit elements on the schematic diagram without going through any compilation or synthesis process. Users can also choose to revert any of the entities back to the original schematic diagram with the ungrouping operation. For specific or batch manipulation of the schematic diagram, the tool provides a scripting interface for users to enter commands. The content of selected entities can be changed by using the drag-and-drop technique for certain operations including moving nodes into, removing nodes from, and adding nodes into an entity.