Patent ID: 7779381

Claim:
A computer enabled method of simulating a circuit, the circuit including a plurality of power domains including a plurality of logic blocks of the circuit design each power domain having an associated supply of electrical power and an associated operating voltage, each power domain capable of being powered down/up independent of the other power domains in a particular mode of operation of the circuit, the method comprising the acts of: providing in a storage device an power information database, identifying each power domain of the circuit, identifying each mode of operation of the circuit, each mode indicating the ON and OFF status of each power domain, identifying a particular mode of operation (test mode) associated with testing the circuit; for each power domain that is powered down in the test mode, designating the logic elements in that power domain as being powered down; for each power domain that is powered up in the test mode, designating the logic elements in that power domain as being powered up; storing the powered down/up designations of the logic elements in a storage device; and using a computer to generate a plurality of test patterns from the stored powered down/up designations that do not target logic elements that are powered down and that do target logic elements that are powered up.