Patent ID: 8144825

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of predicting a clock period within an integrated circuit, the method comprising: selecting a type of directional shift for which a measure is to be determined; selecting a data set in response to the selected type of directional shift; determining configuration information for an integrated circuit, wherein the configuration information specifies a circuit design to be implemented within the integrated circuit; determining from the configuration information, a resource usage level of the circuit design as a function of resources of the integrated circuit used by the circuit design versus resources available on the integrated circuit; determining, by a computer, at least one measure of directional shift for an edge of a pulse of a reference clock signal of the circuit design for the integrated circuit induced by at least one other clock signal of the circuit design for the integrated circuit according to the configuration information; wherein the determining of the measure of directional shift includes determining the measure of directional shift from the selected data set according to the resource usage level; and outputting the measure of directional shift of the edge of the pulse of the reference clock signal.