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Abstract

Method and circuits to create reduced field programmable gate arrays (RFPGA) from the configuration data of field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) are disclosed. The configurable elements of the FPGA are replaced with standard cell circuits that reproduce the functionality of the configured FPGA. Specifically, reduced logic blocks are derived from the configuration data of configurable logic blocks. Similarly, reduced input/output blocks and reduced matrices are derived from the configuration data for input/output blocks and programmable switch matrices of the FPGA, respectively. The reduced logic.blocks are arranged in a similar layout to the original CLBs so that timing relationships remain similar in the RFPGA and FPGA. The actual timing of the RFPGA can be modified by increasing or decreasing the timing delay on various signal paths based on the FPGA design or additional timing constraints. To reduce the time required to generate RFPGAs, a database can be used to contain configurable logic block models and the corresponding reduced logic block models. The database can be expanded as new reduced logic block models are created for configurable logic block models that were not in the database. Similarly, a database can be used for the input/output blocks and programmable switch matrices of an FPGA.

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First Claim