Patent ID: 9690890
Date: 2017-06-27
CPC Classifications: G06F

Claim:
1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for an integrated circuit (IC) design tool that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method for synthesizing an IC design, the method comprising: receiving a hardware description language (HDL) description of an IC design, wherein the HDL description includes an HDL statement that defines a multi-bit variable, wherein the multi-bit variable represents a bus; enumerating the HDL description to obtain an enumerated IC design, wherein said enumerating includes creating, by the IC design tool, a first wide-bus data structure that represents the multi-bit variable; and synthesizing the enumerated IC design to obtain a synthesized IC design, wherein said synthesizing includes creating, by the IC design tool, (1) a second wide-bus data structure that represents the multi-bit variable, (2) a set of individual wire data structures that represents individual wires in the bus, and (3) references that bidirectionally link the second wide-bus data structure with the set of individual wire data structures.