Patent ID: 8898604

Claim:
A method for selective Q-gating flip-flops in a plurality of flip-flops contained in a design, the method comprising: determining, by a processor, a maximum width value, a maximum depth value, and a maximum congestion value in the design; determining a relative width value, a relative depth value, and a relative congestion value for each of the plurality of flip-flops in the design; determining grade values for each of the plurality of flip-flops in the design based on a ratio between the relative width value, the relative depth value and the relative congestion value, and the maximum width value, the maximum depth value, and the maximum congestion value, respectively; determining, based on the grade values for each of the plurality of flip-flops in the design, an overall summed value for each of the plurality of flip-flops; and sorting the plurality of flip-flops based on the overall summed value for the plurality of flip-flops according to magnitude.