Patent ID: 8549450

Claim:
A method of determining at least one boundary condition for a signal path, said signal path comprising a plurality of circuit blocks and combinational paths having at least one net between said circuit blocks, said method comprising: determining an expected characteristic for each of said at least one net; and determining a boundary characteristic for each of said at least one net, including: multiplying said expected characteristic by a present scaling factor to produce a scaled characteristic for each of said at least one net, using a computer or data processing system, performing timing analysis of said signal path in accordance with said scaled characteristic, and determining if said signal path violates a timing constraint when said at least one net has said scaled characteristic and, if said signal path violates said timing constraint, then changing said present scaling factor and repeating said step of determining said boundary characteristic; and when said signal path does not violate said timing constraint, storing said scaled characteristic as said boundary characteristic.