SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR STRENGTHENING OF A CIRCUIT ELEMENT TO REDUCE AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT'S POWER CONSUMPTION

摘要

A system and method enable strengthening of flip-Flops (FFs) in an integrated circuit (IC) for the purpose of reducing power consumption. This is achieved by using stability condition (STC) and observability don't-care (ODC) techniques. Strengthening enable is defined as ensuring that a FF later in the fan-out is enabled only when a FF earlier in the fan-out is driving a signal to that later FF. In an embodiment the fan-in of a FF is traversed and the STC or ODC is determined for the FF. Dependent on the determination a STC controller or an ODC controller is added to control the FF's enable signal. In an embodiment the power savings is checked and a controller is added only if there is a reduction in overall power consumption resulting from the addition of the controller.

主权项

1. A method implemented in a programmable system for incorporating in a design description of an integrated circuit a power reduction circuit for a flip-flop (FF) having an enable condition for a clock signal of the FF, the method comprising:
adding to the design description at least one of: an observability don't care condition (ODC) controller to strengthen an enable condition of the FF of the design description based on respective ODC of the FF, the ODC controller configured to generate an enable signal to the FF; and, a stability condition (STC) controller to strengthen an enable condition of the FF based on respective STC of the FF and causing the STC controller to generate an enable signal to the FF; and storing in a memory of the programmable system an updated description of the integrated circuit; wherein strengthening the enable condition of the FF ensures that a subsequent FF in a fan-out of the FF is enabled only when the FF drives a signal to the subsequent FF.