Patent ID: 7257788

Claim:
A method for converting globally clock-gated circuits to locally clock-gated circuits, said method comprising: performing a timing analysis on an integrated circuit (IC) design to generate a slack time report for globally clock-gated circuits within said IC design; determining whether or not a globally clock-gated circuit is a don't touch circuit, and if not determining, by utilizing a logic circuit netlist, a switching factor and a switching factor threshold, whether or not the globally clock-gated circuit should be converted to a locally clock-gated circuit: identifying one of said globally clock-gated circuits to be connected to a locally generated clock according to its slack time indicated in said slack time report; and disconnecting said identified globally clock-gated circuit from a global clock tree and connecting said identified globally clock-gated circuit to a locally generated clock having a clock delay comparable to its slack time indicated in said slack time report.