Patent ID: 7328422

Claim:
A design support apparatus supporting a design of an integrated circuit which includes a plurality of cells to implement different functions by combining a plurality of logical gates, comprising: a storage portion in which is stored a layout program which determines a wiring layout when connecting the plurality of cells employing diagonal wiring having an inclination determined beforehand; and a control portion which reads and executes said layout program from said storage portion, wherein said storage portion further contains position information for specifying a position in which said plurality of cells are arranged, and wherein said control portion executes said layout program to implement: a position judging section which performs position judgment to check, for every net, the net being formed by a first cell to be called ‘driver’ and one or a plurality of cells driven via an output terminal of the first cell to be called ‘receiver(s)’, whether or not said driver exists outside a predetermined region for enclosing said receiver(s); and a layout section which determines a base point from an inside of said predetermined region, with respect to said net when it is judged that said driver exists outside said predetermined region, and arranges said diagonal wiring for wiring which connects said output terminal of said driver with said base point when said base point can be connected with an input terminal of said receiver by means of vertical and/or horizontal wiring.