t Routing applications for navigation By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 26 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT Some embodiments provide a mapping application that provides routing information to third-party applications on a device. The mapping application receives route data that includes first and second locations. Based on the route data, the mapping application provides a set of routing applications that provide navigation information. The mapping application receives a selection of a routing application in the set of routing applications. The mapping application passes the route data to the selected routing application in order for the routing application to provide navigation information. Full Article
t Large scale demand responsive transit framework By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 26 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT Described herein is a descriptive framework to facilitate large scale demand responsive transit. In accordance with one aspect of the framework, one or more trip requests from one or more commuter devices are received. A trip request indicates at least one start location and at least one end location. In addition, vehicle information is received from one or more available vehicles. The vehicle information indicates at least one current location of a vehicle. An adaptive route for the vehicle may be planned based on the one or more trip requests and the vehicle information. Update information of the adaptive route may be communicated to the vehicle and the one or more commuter devices. Full Article
t Vehicle control device By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 16 Jun 2015 08:00:00 EDT A vehicle control device capable of more appropriately carrying out travel control of an own vehicle carried out while acquiring travel information of a leading vehicle by an inter-vehicle communication is provided. Provided is a vehicle control device for carrying out vehicle control of acquiring inter-vehicle communication information of a leading vehicle travelling in front of an own vehicle, and controlling a travel state of the own vehicle based on the acquired inter-vehicle communication information of the leading vehicle, wherein control of the inter-vehicle communication is changed according to a parameter at the time of the vehicle control. Full Article
t Vehicle travel control device By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 23 Jun 2015 08:00:00 EDT A vehicle travel control device can accurately determine a driver's intention to adjust the vehicle speed. After applying attention attracting reaction force corresponding to outside circumstances and the like to an accelerator pedal through a reaction force application mechanism, a reaction force control unit outputs intention determining reaction force that is used to determine the driver's intention to adjust the vehicle speed and is smaller than the attention attracting reaction force, and determines the intention to adjust the vehicle speed on the basis of the accelerator pedal operation amount of the driver while the intention determining reaction force is being applied to the accelerator pedal through the reaction force application mechanism. Full Article
t Path information providing server, method of providing path information, and terminal By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 21 Jul 2015 08:00:00 EDT Provided are an apparatus and method of providing path information based on a status of a path and/or a purpose of the use of the path. A path information providing server collects environmental information from a sensing device. The path information providing server receives a path information request including a departure and a destination from a terminal device, and provides path information generated by mapping environmental data to a searched path. Full Article
t Method and apparatus for mapping buildings By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 21 Jul 2015 08:00:00 EDT An apparatus and method for determining an Absolute Location of an indoor stationary object, the method comprising: receiving a distance between an indoor stationary object and one or more predetermined spots; determining a location of stationary object relative to one of the predetermined spots; receiving an Absolute Location of one of the predetermined spots; determining an Absolute Location of the stationary object; and storing the Absolute Location of the stationary object with description information of the stationary object. Full Article
t Power steering device By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 28 Jul 2015 08:00:00 EDT A power steering device is mounted on a vehicle and includes a variable transmission ratio mechanism, a torque applying unit, and an applied friction torque changing unit. The torque applying unit sets an applied friction torque applied to the steering wheel and performs a control of applying the applied friction torque to the steering wheel. The applied friction torque changing unit changes the applied friction torque based on the transmission ratio of the variable transmission ratio mechanism. Full Article
t Control system and method for hybrid vehicle By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 04 Aug 2015 08:00:00 EDT The present invention relates to a control system and a method for a hybrid vehicle which may optimally control the operating point of a vehicle. A control method for a hybrid vehicle includes detecting driving requests and a state of charge (SOC) of a battery when the vehicle is driving in HEV mode, determining a motor operating point and an engine operating point when the battery is in low SOC state, and compensating the motor operating point and the engine operating point by applying a climbing degree of the vehicle and the atmospheric pressure. Full Article
t Map-assisted sensor-based positioning of mobile devices By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 25 Aug 2015 08:00:00 EDT Various methods, apparatuses and/or articles of manufacture are provided which may be implemented to estimate a trajectory of a mobile device within an indoor environment. In some embodiments, the trajectory may be estimated without the use of any signal-based positioning information. For example, a mobile device may estimate such a trajectory based, at least in part, on one or more sensor measurements obtained at the mobile device, and further affect the estimated trajectory based, at least in part, on one or more objects identified in an electronic map of the indoor environment. Full Article
t Parking assist system and parking assist method By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 01 Sep 2015 08:00:00 EDT A parking assist system includes: an actuator that drives a back door of a vehicle; an opening degree control unit that controls an opening degree of the back door by controlling the actuator; a storage device that stores an allowable opening degree of the back door at a park position of the vehicle in association with the park position; and a position information acquisition unit that acquires position information of the vehicle. When a position of the vehicle corresponds to the park position stored in the storage device, the opening degree control unit limits the opening degree of the back door on the basis of the allowable opening degree of the back door, stored in the storage device in association with the park position. Full Article
t Control device and control method for electric powered vehicle By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 22 Sep 2015 08:00:00 EDT In an electric powered vehicle in which vehicle driving force for reverse running is produced by a traction motor, vehicle driving force is set by a product of a base value set at least based on an accelerator opening and an amplification factor. The amplification factor is set at k1=1.0 during reverse running (V1.0 at the start of reverse running (V≧0) depending on the vehicular speed. The vehicle driving force at the start of reverse running can thereby be made larger than the vehicle driving force after the start of reverse running at the same accelerator opening. Full Article
t Vehicle control apparatus By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 29 Sep 2015 08:00:00 EDT Disclosed is a vehicle control apparatus which can prevent the deterioration of drivability. The ECU can set a control accelerator opening degree to be converted when a control permission condition is established. The control accelerator opening degree is equal to or larger than an accelerator lower limit which is larger than an idle determination value for determining an automatic stopping of an engine by an eco-run. The control accelerator opening degree thus set can prevent the drivability from being deteriorated without the automatic stopping of the engine being caused even if the accelerator opening degree is converted to reduce the torque of the engine with the establishment of the control permission condition. Full Article
t Method of monitoring an engine coolant system of a vehicle By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 06 Oct 2015 08:00:00 EDT A method of monitoring an engine coolant system includes modeling the total energy stored within an engine coolant. If an actual temperature of the engine coolant is below a minimum target temperature, the modeled total energy stored within the energy coolant is compared to a maximum stored energy limit to determine if sufficient energy exists within the engine coolant to heat the engine coolant to a temperature equal to or greater than the minimum target temperature. The engine coolant system fails the diagnostic check when the modeled total energy stored within the energy coolant is greater than the maximum stored energy limit, and the minimum target temperature has not been reached. Full Article
t Vehicle notification sound emitting apparatus By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 10 Nov 2015 08:00:00 EST A vehicle notification sound emitting apparatus is basically provided with a first sound emitting device, a second sound emitting device and a notification sound control device. The first sound emitting device emits a first intermittent notification sound inside a cabin interior of a vehicle. The second sound emitting device emits a second intermittent notification sound outside of the cabin interior of the vehicle. The notification sound control device operates the first and second sound emitting devices to separately emit the first and second intermittent notification sounds in at least a partially overlapping pattern in response to occurrence of a vehicle condition to convey a same type of vehicle information to both inside and outside of the cabin interior of the vehicle. The notification sound control device includes a cabin interior-exterior notification sound synchronizing section that is configured to synchronize the first and second intermittent notification sounds. Full Article
t Control device for hybrid vehicle By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 01 Dec 2015 08:00:00 EST A control device for a hybrid vehicle includes a portion determining whether an engine torque is necessary, a portion controlling a motor to make a motor torque be a target torque, an engine rotation speed control portion controlling an engine output shaft to rotate at a target engine rotation speed for sudden start/reacceleration while the clutch being disengaged after starting the engine and before an actual rotation speed of the engine output shaft exceeds a reference target engine rotation speed in a case where the engine torque is necessary, a control portion engaging the clutch after the actual rotation speed exceeds the reference target engine rotation speed, and a portion controlling the engine so that the engine torque is assumed to be a target torque by canceling the control by the engine rotation speed control portion after the actual rotation speed exceeds the reference target engine rotation speed. Full Article
t Vehicle event recorder systems and networks having integrated cellular wireless communications systems By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 01 Dec 2015 08:00:00 EST Vehicle event recorder systems are arranged to be in constant communication with remote servers and administrators via mobile wireless cellular networks. Vehicle event recorders equipped with video cameras capture video and other data records of important events relating to vehicle use. These data are then transmitted over special communications networks having very high coverage space but limited bandwidth. A vehicle may be operated over very large region while maintaining continuous communications connections with a remote fixed server. As such, systems of these inventions may be characterized as including a mobile unit having: a video camera; a microprocessor; memory; an event trigger; and mobile wireless transceivers, and a fixed network portion including: mobile wireless cellular network, a protocol translation gateway, the Internet and an application-specific server. Full Article
t Traction control system in a vehicle, vehicle including traction control system, and traction control method By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 05 Jan 2016 08:00:00 EST A traction control system in vehicle comprises a detector for detecting a monitored value which changes according to a degree of a drive wheel slip; a condition determiner for determining whether or not the monitored value meets a control start condition and whether or not the monitored value meets a control termination condition; and a controller for executing traction control to reduce a driving power of the drive wheel during a period of time from when the condition determiner determines that the monitored value meets the control start condition until the condition determiner determines that the monitored value meets the control termination condition; the condition determiner being configured to set at least the control start condition variably based on a slip determination factor which changes according to a vehicle state and such that the control start condition changes more greatly according to the vehicle state than the control termination condition. Full Article
t Method and apparatus for alignment optimization with respect to plurality of layers By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 12 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT A method of patterning a plurality of layers of a work piece in a series of writing cycles in one or a plurality of write machines, the workpiece being deviced to have a number of N layers and layers of the workpiece having one or a plurality of boundary condition(s) for pattern position, the method comprising the steps of: determining the boundary conditions of layers 1 to N, calculating deviations due to the boundary conditions and calculating a compensation for the deviation of the first transformation added with the assigned part of the deviation due to the boundary conditions. Full Article
t Integrating multiple FPGA designs by merging configuration settings By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 12 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT This disclosure relates generally to field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Some implementations relate to methods and systems for transmitting and integrating an intellectual property (IP) block with another user's design. The IP developer can design the IP block to include both a secret portion and a public portion. The IP block developer can send or otherwise provide the IP block to another IP user without disclosing the functional description of the secret portion of the IP block. In some implementations, the IP developer provides the public portion to the IP user at the register-transfer-level (RTL) level, as a hardware description language (HDL)-implemented design, or as a synthesizable netlist. In some implementations, the IP developer provides the secret portion of the IP block to the user in the form of programming bits without providing an HDL, RTL, or netlist implementation of the secret portion. Full Article
t Verification module apparatus for debugging software and timing of an embedded processor design that exceeds the capacity of a single FPGA By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 12 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT A plurality of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA), high performance transceivers, and memory devices provide a verification module for timing and state debugging of electronic circuit designs. Signal value compression circuits and gigabit transceivers embedded in each FPGA increase the fanout of each FPGA. Ethernet communication ports enable remote software debugging of processor instructions. Full Article
t Digital circuit verification monitor By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 12 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT A method, a system and a computer readable medium for providing information relating to a verification of a digital circuit. The verification may be formal verification and comprise formally verifying that a plurality of formal properties is valid for a representation of the digital circuit. The method comprises replacing at least a first input value relating to the representation of the digital circuit by a first free variable, determining if at least one of the plurality of formal properties is valid or invalid after replacing the first input value by the first variable and indicating if the at least one of the plurality of formal property is valid or invalid. The use of a free or open variable that has not determined value can be directly in the description or representation of the digital circuit. It is not necessary to insert errors or to apply an error model. Full Article
t Method and apparatus for creating and managing waiver descriptions for design verification By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 12 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT Methods are provided to facilitate automated creation and management of design rule checking or DRC waiver descriptions. Embodiments include receiving a plurality of first checksums corresponding to respective first geometric element violations waived in association with a block of an integrated circuit design, the first checksums being based on a first version of at least one design verification rule and/or of the block, receiving a second checksum corresponding to a second geometric element violation associated with the block, the second checksum being based on a second version of the design verification rule and/or of the block, determining whether the second checksum corresponds to at least one of the first checksums, and, if the second checksum does not correspond to at least one first checksum, generating a waiver request for the second geometric element error. Full Article
t System and method for automated simulator assertion synthesis and digital equivalence checking By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 12 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT A system, method, and computer program product for automatically generating equivalent assertions in different forms for different verification tools, which may be analog or digital. A user submits a set of logic assertions that, if unclocked, are converted to clocked assertions by generating and skewing clocks to ensure simulator uniformity. A stimulus is generated, perhaps at random, or input. A test bench is either input or synthesized. For each verification tool, the test bench is simulated and simulation results are captured. An assertion status difference engine evaluates result differences between the verification tools, and identifies and outputs differences indicating a significant inconsistency. Errors in verification tool implementation and user assertion coding can be detected. The simulators used may include SPICE and Verilog, or any other simulators that differ in type, simulation algorithm, input format, or vendor implementation. Full Article
t Physics-based reliability model for large-scale CMOS circuit design By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 12 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT This disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for simulating physical active semiconductor components using in silico active semiconductor components. To simulate charge degradation effect(s) in a circuit simulation, a simulated defect signal level is produced. More specifically, the simulated defect signal level simulates at least one charge degradation effect in the in silico active semiconductor component as a function of simulation time and a simulated input signal level of a simulated input signal. As such, the charge degradation effect(s) are simulated externally with respect to the in silico active semiconductor component. In this manner, the in silico active semiconductor component does not need to be reprogrammed in order to simulate charge degradation effects. Full Article
t Crosstalk analysis method By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 12 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT One implementation of the disclosure provides a crosstalk analysis method executed by a computer. The method includes steps of: executing a layout program; executing a crosstalk analysis program; acquiring, by the crosstalk analysis program, a plurality of parameters from a layout result generated by the layout program; estimating a crosstalk value according to the parameters; determining whether the crosstalk value is larger than a predetermined value; providing a layout suggestion table when the crosstalk value is larger than the predetermined value. Full Article
t Semiconductor device By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 12 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT A method for bypassing a defective through silicon via x in a group of n adjacent through silicon vias, includes receiving a plurality of relief signals to identify the defective through silicon via x, activating x−1 switch circuits to connect x−1 data circuits to through silicon vias 1 to x−1 in the group of n adjacent through silicon vias, activating n-x switch circuits to connect n-x data circuits to through silicon vias x+1 to n in the group of n adjacent through silicon vias, and activating a switch circuit to connect a data circuit to an auxiliary through silicon via which is adjacent through silicon via n in the group of n adjacent through silicon vias. Full Article
t Semiconductor device design method and design apparatus By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 12 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT A relationship between distance from a back bias control section which outputs a control signal for controlling a back bias of a transistor and an amount of noise in the control signal outputted from the back bias control section is found. An increase of jitter corresponding to the amount of the noise in a clock transmitted on a clock path connected to a circuit section (IP macro) is found on the basis of the relationship between the distance from the back bias control section and the amount of the noise. The circuit section and the clock path are placed on the basis of the increase of the jitter and an allowable jitter value for the circuit section. Full Article
t Method of optimizing capacitive couplings in high-capacitance nets in simulation of post-layout circuits By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 12 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT A method of asymmetric asynchronous decoupling of capacitors in an integrated circuit design is provided for faster simulation by circuit simulators, e.g. FastSPICE circuit simulators. This method includes removing a coupling capacitor from a list, which includes coupling capacitors that capacitively couple two nets in the design. The two nets have capacitances C1 and C2, and at least one of capacitances C1 and C2 exceeds a threshold. The coupling capacitor has capacitance Cc. When coupling capacitance Cc is low and only one of capacitances C1 and C2 has a low capacitance, then a forward capacitance can be used at whichever of the two nets has the low capacitance and a lump capacitance can be used at the other net for simulation. When coupling capacitance Cc is low and both of capacitances C1 and C2 have high capacitances, then lump capacitances can be used at the two nets for the simulation. Full Article
t Method and system for three-dimensional layout design of integrated circuit elements in stacked CMOS By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 12 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT A method includes providing a design of a semiconductor device such as a stacked CMOS device comprising a plurality of circuit elements to be assigned into a layout of a plurality of tiers, and identifying at least one first type of circuit element within the plurality of circuit elements based on at least one predetermined criterion. Each respective one of the at least one first type of circuit element is to be assigned to a respective designated one of the plurality of tiers. The method further includes dividing the remainder of the plurality of circuit elements into at least two groups of circuit elements based on circuit density, and assigning the at least one first type of circuit element and the at least two groups of circuit elements to respectively different ones of the plurality of tiers of the semiconductor device. Full Article
t Scan chain modification for reduced leakage By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 12 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT A leakage power control vector is loaded into existing test scan chain elements for application to circuit elements of a circuit in which the leakage currents are to be controlled. The vector is designed to configure the circuit elements into states in which leakage currents are reduced. A multiplexer selects the power control vector for loading into the scan chain elements, and a clock generator clocks the configuration vector into the scan chain elements. A sleep mode detector may be provided to configure the multiplexer to select the power control vector and to operate the clock generator to clock the power control vector into the scan chain elements when a sleep mode of the circuit is detected. Full Article
t System and method for integrated transformer synthesis and optimization using constrained optimization problem By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 12 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT A method for designing a transformer in an integrated circuit includes receiving one or more desired characteristics of the transformer from user input and iteratively determining a design solution for the transformer through one or more simulations and modifications using a rule-set. The method combines the one or more desired characteristics with other preset characteristics of the transformer or the integrated circuit. A first model of the transformer is defined with typical load impedances and simulated having the combined characteristics to determine performance. Results of the simulation are processed to calculate performance with the load impedances specified by the user. The results are further processed to obtain a mathematical model that includes tuning capacitors. The first and subsequent models are modified by drawing on a rule-set of expert knowledge relating to general dependency of at least one design criterion, such as a physical, geometrical or performance characteristic, with another design criterion. Full Article
t Generating guiding patterns for directed self-assembly By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 12 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT Aspects of the invention relate to techniques of generating guiding patterns for via-type feature groups. A guiding pattern may be constructed for a via-type feature group that comprises two or more via-type features in a layout design. A backbone structure may then be determined for the guiding pattern. Based on the backbone structure and a self-assembly model, simulated locations of the two or more via-type features are computed. The simulated locations are compared with targeted locations. If the simulated locations do not match the targeted locations based on a predetermined criterion, the simulated locations adjusted to derive modified locations. Using the modified locations, the above operations may be repeated until the simulated locations match the targeted location based on a predetermined criterion or for a predetermined number of times. Full Article
t Integrated circuit floorplan for compact clock distribution By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 12 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT An integrated circuit includes core logic and a plurality of interface blocks disposed about a periphery of the core logic. A plurality of input or output (I/O) circuits is assigned to one of the plurality of interface blocks. The I/O circuits include external I/O circuits coupled to a device other than the integrated circuit and internal I/O circuits coupled to the integrated circuit. Each interface block includes a first plurality of I/O circuits disposed on a first side of the interface block and a second plurality of I/O circuits disposed on a second side of the interface block. Each interface block also includes interface logic for the interface block between the first plurality of I/O circuits and the second plurality of I/O circuits, and a logic hub that includes a clock distribution of minimal length that drives launch logic and capture logic to form the I/O circuits of the interface block. Full Article
t Method and system for forming patterns with charged particle beam lithography By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 19 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT In a method for fracturing or mask data preparation or mask process correction for charged particle beam lithography, a plurality of shots are determined that will form a pattern on a surface, where shots are determined so as to reduce sensitivity of the resulting pattern to changes in beam blur (βf). In some embodiments, the sensitivity to changes in βf is reduced by varying the charged particle surface dosage for a portion of the pattern. Methods for forming patterns on a surface, and for manufacturing an integrated circuit are also disclosed, in which pattern sensitivity to changes in βf is reduced. Full Article
t Interconnection substrate design supporting device, method of designing interconnection substrate, program, and interconnection substrate By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 19 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT A via disposition information acquiring unit acquires via disposition information indicating a disposition of the plurality of first vias (212). A second conductor information acquiring unit acquires second conductor information indicating disposition positions of a plurality of second conductors (232) repeatedly disposed in the second conductor layer (230). A via extracting unit extracts an extraction via with respect to each of the plurality of second conductors (232). The extraction via is each of the first vias (212) overlapping the second conductor (232). A via selecting unit selects a selection via with respect to each of the plurality of second conductors (232). The selection via is each of first vias (212) selected in a predetermined number from the extraction vias. An opening introducing unit introduces a first opening (234) to each of the plurality of second conductors (232). The first opening (234) overlaps the extraction via not selected by the via selecting unit in plan view. Full Article
t Method and system for semiconductor design hierarchy analysis and transformation By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 19 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT A method and apparatus for partitioning of the input design into repeating patterns called template cores for the application of reticle enhancement methods, design verification for manufacturability and design corrections for optical and process effects is accomplished by hierarchy analysis to extract cell overlap information. Also hierarchy analysis is performed to extract hierarchy statistics. Finally template core candidates are identified. This allows to the design to be made amenable for design corrections or other analyses or modifications that are able to leverage the hierarchy of the design since the cell hierarchy could otherwise be very deep or cells could have significant overlap with each other. Full Article
t Method and system for critical dimension uniformity using charged particle beam lithography By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 19 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT A method for mask data preparation or mask process correction is disclosed in which a set of charged particle beam shots is determined which is capable of forming a pattern on a surface, wherein critical dimension uniformity (CDU) of the pattern is optimized. In some embodiments the CDU is optimized by varying at least two factors. In other embodiments, model-based techniques are used. In yet other embodiments, the surface is a reticle to be used in an optical lithographic process to form a pattern on a wafer, and CDU on the wafer is optimized. Full Article
t Automated integrated circuit design documentation By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 19 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT A method of creating a datasheet includes obtaining integrated circuit data from at least one data source, creating a data structure including the integrated circuit data obtained from the at least one data source, and creating a datasheet using data contained in the data structure. The datasheet is created in a human-readable format. Full Article
t Network synthesis design of microwave acoustic wave filters By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 19 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT Methods for the design of microwave filters comprises comprising preferably the steps of inputting a first set of filter requirements, inputting a selection of circuit element types, inputting a selection of lossless circuit response variables, calculating normalized circuit element values based on the input parameters, and generate a first circuit, insert parasitic effects to the normalized circuit element values of the first circuit, and output at least the first circuit including the post-parasitic effect circuit values. Additional optional steps include: requirements to a normalized design space, performing an equivalent circuit transformation, unmapping the circuit to a real design space, performing a survey, and element removal optimization. Computer implement software, systems, and microwave filters designed in accordance with the method are included. Full Article
t Method and apparatus for generating gate-level activity data for use in clock gating efficiency analysis By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 19 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT A mechanism for generating gate-level activity data for use in clock gating efficiency analysis of an integrated circuit (IC) design is provided. Generating the gate-level activity data includes generating a signal behaviour description for inter-register signals, generating a gate-level netlist for the IC design, generating gate-level stimuli based at least partly on the generated signal behaviour description, and performing gate-level simulation using the generated gate-level stimuli to generate gate-level activity data for the IC design. In one embodiment, generating the signal behaviour description includes performing Register Transfer Level (RTL) simulation of the IC design, and generating the gate-level netlist includes performing RTL synthesis. The RTL simulation and RTL synthesis are performed on RTL data for the IC design. Full Article
t Prediction of dynamic current waveform and spectrum in a semiconductor device By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 19 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT A method for accurately determining the shape of currents in a current spectrum for a circuit design is provided. The method includes determining timing and power consumption characteristics. In one embodiment, timing characteristics are provided through a electronic design automation tool. The timing characteristics yield a current pulse time width. In another embodiment, power consumption characteristics are provided by an EDA tool. The power consumption characteristics yield a current pulse amplitude. The shape of the current pulse is obtained by incrementally processing a power analyzer tool over relatively small time increments over one or more clock cycles while capturing the switching nodes of a simulation of the circuit design for each time increment. In one embodiment, the time increments are one nanosecond or less. Full Article
t System and method for containing analog verification IP By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 19 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT A system, method, and computer program product for containing analog verification IP for circuit simulation. Embodiments introduce analog verification units (“vunits”), and corresponding analog verification files to contain them. Vunits allow circuit design verification requirement specification via text file. No editing of netlist files containing design IP is required to implement static and dynamic circuit checks, PSL assertions, clock statements, or legacy assertions. Vunits reference a top-level circuit or subcircuits (by name or by specific instance), and the simulator automatically binds vunit contents appropriately during circuit hierarchy expansion. Vunits may be re-used for other design cells, and may be easily processed by text-based design tools. Vunits may be provided via vunit_include statements in a control netlist file, command line arguments, or by directly placing a vunit block into a netlist. Vunits may also contain instance statements to monitor or process signals, such as those needed by assertions. Full Article
t Early design cycle optimization By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 19 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT Some example embodiments include a computer-implemented method for designing an integrated circuit. The computer-implemented method includes receiving a hierarchical network design for the integrated circuit, wherein the hierarchical design comprises a number of components that are coupled together. The computer-implemented method includes detecting that a component of the number of components has at least one of failed timing and incomplete timing based on a problem that comprises at least one of a missing assertion, one or more missing latches, a source driver having an input source slew that is greater than a source slew limit threshold, and a sink having an input sink slew that is greater than a sink slew limit threshold. The computer-implemented method includes replacing the component with a different component that is independent of the problem and testing others components of the number of components based on the different component. Full Article
t DRC format for stacked CMOS design By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 19 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT The present disclosure relates a method of performing a design rule checking (DRC) procedure on a multi-tiered integrated chip. In some embodiments, the method is performed by defining layer databases for a plurality of tiers within a multi-tiered integrated chip. The layer databases respectively identify design layers within an associated tier. A DRC (design rule checking) deck is then generated, which defines one or more individual design layer definitions as a function of a plurality of layer databases, so that the one or more individual design layer definitions are defined for a plurality of tiers. One or more design rules for the one or more individual design layer definitions are defined within the DRC deck. Since the individual design layer definitions are defined as functions of the plurality of layer databases, the design rules apply to the plurality of tiers. Full Article
t Horizontal interconnects crosstalk optimization By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 19 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for wireless communication are provided. The apparatus generates a plurality of interconnect patterns for a set of longitudinal channels that are occupied by horizontal interconnects. Each interconnect pattern may be different from the other interconnect patterns. Each interconnect pattern may define relative locations for the set of horizontal interconnects and gap channels. Highest crosstalk is determined for each of the interconnect patterns and the interconnect pattern with the minimum highest crosstalk is selected as a preferred pattern. The highest crosstalk may comprise far-end crosstalk or near-end crosstalk and may be calculated for a range of frequencies or for a plurality of frequencies. The crosstalk may be calculated by modeling the interconnects as transmission lines. Full Article
t Load balancing on hetrogenous processing cluster based on exceeded load imbalance factor threshold determined by total completion time of multiple processing phases By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 19 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT Methods and systems for managing data loads on a cluster of processors that implement an iterative procedure through parallel processing of data for the procedure are disclosed. One method includes monitoring, for at least one iteration of the procedure, completion times of a plurality of different processing phases that are undergone by each of the processors in a given iteration. The method further includes determining whether a load imbalance factor threshold is exceeded in the given iteration based on the completion times for the given iteration. In addition, the data is repartitioned by reassigning the data to the processors based on predicted dependencies between assigned data units of the data and completion times of a plurality of the processers for at least two of the phases. Further, the parallel processing is implemented on the cluster of processors in accordance with the reassignment. Full Article
t Magnetic tunnel junction device and fabrication By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 26 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT A method of forming a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) device includes forming a first MTJ cap layer on a MTJ structure. The first MTJ cap layer includes a first non-nitrified metal. The method also includes forming a second MTJ cap layer over the first MTJ cap layer. The second MTJ cap layer includes a second non-nitrified metal. The method further includes forming a top electrode layer over the second MTJ cap layer. The second MTJ cap layer is conductive and configured to reduce or prevent oxidation. Full Article
t Method and system for forming high accuracy patterns using charged particle beam lithography By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 26 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT A method and system for optical proximity correction (OPC) is disclosed in which a set of shaped beam shots is determined which, when used in a shaped beam charged particle beam writer, will form a pattern on a reticle, where some of the shots overlap, where the pattern on the reticle is an OPC-corrected version of an input pattern, and where the sensitivity of the pattern on the reticle to manufacturing variation is reduced. A method for fracturing or mask data preparation is also disclosed. Full Article
t Synthesis of fast squarer functional blocks By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 26 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT In one embodiment of the invention, an integrated circuit (IC) design tool is provided for synthesizing logic, including one or more software modules to synthesize a gate-level netlist of a squarer functional block. The software modules include a bitvector generator, a bitvector reducer, and a hybrid multibit adder generator. The bitvector generator multiplies bits of a vector together to generate partial products for a plurality of bitvectors and then optimizes a plurality of least significant bitvectors. The bitvector reducer reduces the partial products in the bitvectors of the squarer functional block down to a pair of final vectors. The hybrid multibit adder generator generates a hybrid multibit adder including a first adder and a second adder coupled together by a carry bit with bit widths being responsive to a dividerbit. The hybrid multibit adder adds the pair of final vectors together to generate a final result for the squarer functional block. Full Article
t Circuit design support method, computer product, and circuit design support apparatus By www.freepatentsonline.com Published On :: Tue, 26 May 2015 08:00:00 EDT A circuit-design support method includes obtaining information for a circuit having a logic circuit in which signal lines are connected to input terminals, signals of the signal lines being output via the logic circuit; obtaining information concerning a control circuit that has a first flip-flop for scanning and that can control a value of a given signal line by a value set by the first flip-flop; selecting, based on the circuit information, a second flip-flop at an output destination of a signal from the logic circuit, among second flip-flops of the circuit; and generating, based on the control circuit information, information indicating a serial connection of the control circuit between an output source of the signal of the given signal line and the given signal line and a connection of a data input terminal of the first flip-flop and an output terminal of the selected second flip-flop. Full Article